Cooperative Assets

Pearl Station

A 22-megawatt, coal-fired baseload power plant located in Pike County, Ill., along the Illinois River, Pearl Station — owned and operated by Prairie Power— first went on-line in 1968. In fiscal 2009, Pearl produced 42,529 megawatt-hours of electricity with market purchase prices often less than generation costs.

Pearl Station

Alsey Generating Station

Owned by PPI and operated by PPI staff, the Alsey Generating Station is a five-unit, natural gas-fired (the units can also operate on fuel oil, if necessary) peaking complex located in Scott County, Ill., near the village of Alsey. The facility entered service in July 1998 and has a rating of 121 megawatts. The Alsey Station operates in conjunction with a private power company when it is more cost-effective to run the combustion turbines than purchase power from other providers. It is designed to run during periods of peak electric use. Since air permits for the facility limit emissions to no more than 250 tons of nitrogen oxide annually, operation is capped at 937 hours per year. Alsey generated 1,106 megawatt-hours of electricity during 2009.

Alsey

Other Illinois Peaking Plants

During times of peak electricity demand and system emergencies, PPI can call on a 20-megawatt oil-fired combustion turbine based at Pearl Station and 9 megawatts from five diesel units located at Pittsfield in Pike County, Ill. Typically, both facilities run less than 200 hours per year and in 2009 these facilities generated 6 megawatt-hours of energy.

Proposed New Baseload Generating Station 

In July 2007, the Board of Directors of PPI annnounced its commitment of ownership of 130 megawatts (or 8.22% ownership) of the Priairie State Energy Campus (PSEC) under development in southern Illinois. The Prairie State Project is a 1,600 megawatt coal-fueled power plant to be owned by Peabody Energy, PPI, the Indiana Municipal Power Agency, Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Commission, Kentucky Muncipal Power Agency, Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency, Illinois Municipal Electric Agency, AMP of Ohio and Southern Illinois Power Cooperative. This $4 billion plus project will utilize state-of-the-art air emission technologies to be among the cleanest coal-fueled power plants in the United States. When operating, PSEC's emissions will be less than 1/2 of the average of the regulated emission rates of all U. S. coal plants operating at the time.  The super critical, high efficient design of the plant will result in CO₂ emission rates approximately 15% lower than typical U. S. coal plants.  Mercury emissions will meet Illinois regulations, one of the strictist requirements in the nation.  Advanced scrubbing systems will provide on of the highest sulfer dioxide (SO₂)  removal rates of any permitted plant.  Annual nitrogen oxide (NO_x ) and SO₂ emission rates will be less than 1/3rd the average annual emission rates of U. S. electric power generation.  Approximately 98% of SO₂, 99% of particles and 80% of NO_x will be removed.  The fact that Prairie State is a mine-mouth facility will eliminate nearly 200,000 tons of CO₂ emissions per year associated with rail shipments of coal from the Powder River Basin. Unit 1 of Prairie State is currently scheduled to be on-line by the fourth quarter of 2011, with Unit 2 to be on line in 2012.  For more information on the PSEC, go to www.prairiestateenergycampus.com.

Prairie State

Power Purchase Contracts

Through the end of 2008, Prairie Power has an attractive wholesale power supply contract with Ameren Energy Marketing.  Anticipating the need for future power supply prior to and during the operation of the Prairie State Generating Plant, PPI has entered into power purchase agreements for base load energy from Ameren Energy Marketing and for intermediate peaking energy from American Electric Power and Morgan Stanley Capital Group for the period of January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2011.  Capacity has also been purchased for January 2009 through May 2010 and additional capacity is being pursued for June 2010 through December 2011.  Prior to the Prairie State Generating Plant becoming fully operational in 2012, Prairie Power will be seeking a small amount of baseload energy and intermediate peaking energy for 2012 and beyond to complement the energy supplied from the Prairie State Generating Plant. 

Load Management

Power Supply Purchases - 2009 was the first year for a new type of power supply portfolio for PPI.  PPI purchased 1,613,039 MWhs of energy during 2009 from a variety of energy suppliers.  PPI's energy supply was purchased from American Electric Power (EAP), Morgan Stanley Capital Group, Inc. (MSCGI), Ameren Energy Marketing (EAM) and the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO).  Power purchase agreements with EAP, AEM, and MSCGI were executed in 2008 in anticipation of the expiration of PPI's attractive power purchase agreement with AEM which expired at the end of 2008.  PPI's power purchases were complimented by PPI's electric generation supplied from its own generation resources. 

PPI is also required to have available enough capacity to meet forecasted monthly peak demand plus a required planning reserve margin.  While PPI owns capacity at Pearl, Pittsfield, and Alsey, Illinois, additional capacity purchases for 2009 with Integrys Energy Services, AEM and Sempra Energy Trading, LLC.