HAYS, Kan., Nov. 15, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Executives of electric cooperative Sunflower Electric Power Corporation will testify at the final Holcomb Station Expansion Project Air Quality Permit hearing held by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) on Thursday, November 16.
"Sunflower is eager to demonstrate to eastern Kansans how the responsible design of the project protects environmental quality across the state," said Wayne Penrod, Sunflower Executive Manager, Environment. "Our expansion will feature highly efficient generation technology, best available control technologies, aggressive mercury controls and will stand among the cleanest coal-based plants in the country."
The public forum will take place at the Kansas University Student Union in Lawrence, and follow KDHE's published draft permit that will set emissions limits for three planned 700-megawatt electric generating units to be built at Sunflower's existing plant site south of Holcomb, Kansas. The process is used by KDHE to allow the public to comment on its conclusions on Sunflower's permit application, which was submitted on February 6, 2006.
The KDHE air permit approval is one of several regulatory steps that Sunflower must follow to receive final approval to construct the new Holcomb units. Golden Spread Electric Cooperative of Amarillo, Texas, Sunflower, and other investors will jointly own the first new 700-megawatt unit. Golden Spread will own 400 megawatts of the unit's output for supply to its member systems. Sunflower will provide up to 150 megawatts to its member systems, and Midwest Energy, headquartered in Hays, Kansas, will take 75 megawatts. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association of Westminster, Colorado, will own the second and third 700-megawatt units, which it will use to supply power to its member systems.
About Sunflower
Sunflower Electric Power Corporation is a regional wholesale power supplier that owns and operates a 595 MW system of gas and coal-fired generating plants and a 1,200-mile transmission system for the needs of its six member cooperatives, which serve 118,000 people spread throughout a 21,000 square mile area in western Kansas. Sunflower also provides power to regional utilities in western Kansas and in ten states. Visit Sunflower's website at www.sunflower.net.
Sunflower's member cooperatives include Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative, Dighton, Pioneer Electric Cooperative, Ulysses, Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, Norton, Victory Electric Cooperative Association, Dodge City, Western Cooperative Electric Association, WaKeeney, and Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Scott City, Kansas.