Coal-fired

Minnesota Power completed an emissions reduction project at the Boswell Energy Center to reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent and to meet all state and federal regulations for sulfur dioxide emissions and particulates. Unit 4, capable of producing 585 MW, is Minnesota Power's largest coal-fired generating unit. Total cost of the Boswell project is about $260 million.

Florida Power & Light (FPL) filed a petition with the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) to request approval to acquire a power plant that it has had under a long-term contract to purchase power since 1988. Upon taking ownership of the Cedar Bay Generating Plant, a 250-MW coal-fired facility located in Jacksonville, Fla., FPL plans to immediately terminate the contract and reduce the plant's operations by 90 percent, with the intention of eventually phasing the plant out of service.

GE received an order from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to supply two high-efficiency 7HA.02 gas turbine generators for the new combined-cycle Allen plant. The new plant will replace three coal-fired units that are being retired as TVA works toward a December 2018 deadline from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce coal emissions. The TVA Allen plant will have the capacity to generate 1,000 MW of power in combined-cycle mode, the equivalent power that would be needed to supply 1 million U.S. homes.

The AES Corporation entered into an agreement to sell its 49.62% equity interest in AES Entek Elektrik Üretimi A.Ş. (AES Entek), a joint venture with KOÇ HOLDİNG A.Ş. and AYGAZ A.Ş., in Turkey, to its partners. The sale represents 100% of AES' interest in assets in Turkey, consisting of 364 MW of operating natural gas and hydroelectric facilities and its interest in a coal-fired development project, for $125 million in equity proceeds to AES. Subject to customary regulatory approvals, this transaction is expected to close by the first quarter of 2015.

The world's first commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) process on a coal-fired power plant officially opened at Boundary Dam Power Station in Estevan, Saskatchewan. When fully optimized, SaskPower's new process will capture up to a million tons of carbon dioxide annually. The captured carbon dioxide will be used for enhanced oil recovery, with the remainder stored safely and permanently deep underground and continuously monitored.