Peabody Energy Honors the World's Cleanest Coal Plants

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Peabody Energy has honored coal-fueled power plants for top global and U.S. environmental performance with its Advanced Energy for Life Clean Coal Awards.  Global award recipients include Dynegy Inc. in the United States, Korea Southeast Power Co. (KOSEP) in South Korea, and Trianel Kohlekraftwerk Lünen GmbH & Co KG (Trianel) in Germany. 

U.S. award winners include Dynegy and Southwestern Electric Power Company.  Honors were presented at Power-Gen International in Las Vegas, based on the lowest sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxides (NO_x) emissions rates as well as the best heat rate, a measure of a plant's efficiency, which results in a lower carbon footprint. Honorees include:

• Dynegy Inc.'s Coffeen Plant: Honored both globally and in the United States for the lowest emissions profile for SO₂. The Coffeen plant has an SO₂ emissions rate that is 99 percent lower than the U.S. coal plant average. The 915 megawatt power plant operates in Central Illinois and is 50 years old. Dynegy Inc. uses low-sulfur Powder River Basin coal and added a wet scrubber in 2009.
• KOSEP's Yeongheung Plant: Honored for the lowest global emissions profile for NO_x, with an emissions rate that is 85 percent below the U.S. average. The Yeongheung Plant is a 5,080 megawatt supercritical coal-fueled plant in Yeongheung Island, South Korea.
• Trianel's Lünen Plant: Honored for the lowest global heat rate. This 750 megawatt ultra-supercritical power plant has a level of efficiency of approximately 46 percent, which is approximately 25 percent more efficient than the average U.S. coal plant. The plant also has a collection of emissions controls to reduce SO₂, NO_x and particulates to very low levels. Lünen has been in operation since 2013 and delivers affordable electricity to more than 1.6 million households. Municipal utility companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are the joint owners.
• Southwestern Electric Power Company's (SWEPCO) John W. Turk Jr. Plant: Honored for the lowest NO_x rate and lowest heat rate among U.S. coal plants. The John W. Turk Jr. plant is a 600 megawatt ultra-supercritical power plant built in Fulton, Ark., in 2012 by SWEPCO, a unit of American Electric Power. The plant has a heat rate that was 14 percent better than the U.S. coal fleet average this past year at 9,038 Btu per kilowatt hour. Additionally, the John W. Turk plant's NO_x rate is 82 percent better than the U.S. average.

"At a time of heightened global discussion about the benefits of advanced coal technologies, Peabody is proud to showcase clean energy solutions that achieve meaningful emissions improvement," Peabody Energy President and Chief Executive Officer Glenn Kellow said. "These plants are demonstrating the best results worldwide and offer a powerful model to achieve our global environmental goals."

Coal fuels 40 percent of the world's electricity and is approaching oil as the world's largest energy source.  Approximately one new 500 megawatt power plant comes online around the world every three days.

These honors follow recent Advanced Energy for Life awards at Power-Gen events in India, Europe and Asia. The AEFL awards were created in 2014 to recognize the cleanest U.S. coal plants and were expanded in 2015 to honor the cleanest coal plants in the world. Click here for more information on award recipients. 

Turning coal into electricity enables the first rung of environmental improvement through energy by eliminating harmful localized burning of biomass.  Today's clean coal technologies enable substantial further improvements in air quality by reducing the vast majority of SO₂, NO_x, particulate matter, mercury and other emissions. High-efficiency low emissions (HELE) plants with supercritical technologies reduce the carbon dioxide emissions rate by as much as 25 percent. Longer term, investments in next generation carbon capture, use and storage technologies are necessary to transition to the ultimate goal of near-zero emissions from coal-fueled power.

Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in sustainable mining, energy access and clean coal solutions. The company serves metallurgical and thermal coal customers in more than 25 countries on six continents.

Visit AdvancedEnergyforLife.com and PeabodyEnergy.com.

CONTACT:
Beth Sutton
(928) 699-8243

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SOURCE Peabody Energy