OMU's Smith-1 coal unit in Kentucky to be back online Monday

Chemical News: OMU's Smith-1 coal unit in Kentucky to be back online Monday

https://www.chemnet.com Jul 22,2014 Platts
Kentucky's Owensboro Municipal Utilities planned to restart Unit 1 at its 425-MW Elmer Smith coal-fired power plant Monday afternoon after the unit was idled on Friday to remove a "clinker" that had formed in the boiler, a utility official said.

The city-owned utility had intended to bring Unit 1 back online over the weekend but delayed the restart because of low power prices, Jim Roberts, OMU manager of fuels and byproducts, said in an interview.

"With pricing where it was over the weekend, we'll be on tonight to take advantage of the hot weather" forecasted for the area this week, he said. An unusual July cool down resulted in temperatures in the 70s in the Owensboro area last week, although temperatures are expected to rebound to the low 90s over the next couple of days.

Unit 1 was expected to return to service around 3 pm CDT on Monday. Roberts said the muni is "still have slagging coal issues" at Unit 1 "and will have to fight our way through it."

The 50-year-old plant, located along the Ohio River just east of Kentucky's third-largest city, burns about 1.3 million st of high-sulfur steam coal annually.

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