Powerpoints – May 2002

MPC’s emissions drop as demand increases

Over the past ten years, Mississippi Power has reduced its generating plants’ emissions while significantly increasing the amount of electricity it generates to meet growing demand. From 1990 to 2001, net generation at Mississippi Power’s plants increased 83 percent, while over the same period overall sulfur dioxide emissions have decreased by 42 percent and overall nitrogen oxide emissions have decreased by 22 percent.

“There has been much discussion about environmental issues related to our industry,” said Kurt Brautigam. “The good news is that we continue to reduce the impact our operations have on the environment while still fulfilling the responsibility we have as a company to provide reliable, economical electricity for our customers.

“Mississippi Power strictly complies with all applicable environmental laws and regulations at the federal and state levels—we always have and always will,” Brautigam continued. “Those regulations are designed specifically to protect the public health. The safety and well being of our employees and the public is our number one priority.”

Mississippi Power owns and operates several power plants in its service territory. Last year, the addition of two new natural gas-fired units at Plant Daniel in Jackson County brought the company’s overall fuel mix to about a 50-50 balance of coal and natural gas.

“It’s important to maintain as many options as possible regarding fuel sources to ensure available, economical supplies,” Brautigam said. “In addition to now having the flexibility necessary to meet our customers’ electric demands, we also have more options to ensure we meet all of our environmental obligations.”

Environmental filing approved

In mid-March, the Mississippi Public Service Commission approved Mississippi Power’s Environmental Compliance Overview (ECO) filing for 2002. The annual filing reports the company’s actual capital or operating costs related to meeting environmental requirements during the previous year and projected costs for such projects in the current year.

Environmental costs for 2001 totaled about $6 million, while projects scheduled for this year should be around $11.6 million. The PSC approved an increase of approximately 18 cents per 1,000-kilowatt hours for residential customers, reflecting this year’s additional environmental costs.

“The ECO plan was put into effect in 1992 as a way for customers to see what part of their bill was related to complying with environmental rules and regulations,” said spokesman Kurt Brautigam. “During that time, Mississippi Power has spent approximately $140 million on environmentally-related projects.”

Projected work planned in 2002 includes adding new air monitoring equipment at Plant Watson, other air quality projects at Watson’s units 4 and 5, and work on Plant Daniel’s ash collecting equipment.

Environmental costs incurred in 2001 include retired substation evaluation and treatment and air quality projects at both Plant Watson and Plant Daniel.

Generating units undergo maintenance

To ensure a reliable supply of electricity this summer when hot weather leads to high demand for electricity, Mississippi Power conducted major outages on two of its larger generating units earlier this year. Plant Watson’s Unit 5 and Plant Daniel’s Unit 2 were taken offline to undergo routine maintenance on their turbine-generators, boilers, precipitators, and all other parts of their complex mechanical systems.

Both 500-megawatt units were totally disassembled and inspected as part of an eight-year maintenance plan. New operational control systems were also added at Daniel. The three-month long outages went extremely well and Plant Watson’s Unit 5 returned to service in mid-March, while Plant Daniel’s Unit 2 came back on-line in mid-April.

“The units are on an eight-year schedule in order to manage overall maintenance costs and maximize their performance,” said Kurt Brautigam, company spokesman. “It takes special expertise to disassemble these units, which operate with incredible precision, and then make sure they’re reassembled correctly. Some of the parts weigh more than 60 tons, but have technical tolerances measured in thousandths of inches.

“Major generating units are taken offline for this type of maintenance in the winter months because our overall demand for electricity is normally lower then than during the heat of summer,” Brautigam said. “Maintenance is also necessary to ensure the units are prepared to meet ever-increasing demand—last year Mississippi Power generated more electricity than ever before in our history.

“We also set records last year for generating availability rates, which measure the percentage of time our generators are available to the system. It’s an involved, expensive and complicated process, but we’re serious about our responsibility to make sure the electricity is there when our customers need it.”

Plant Daniel employees set safety record

Employees at Mississippi Power’s Plant Daniel have gone more than 630 days without an Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordable incident.

The plant set a new record for Southern Company’s large plants on March 21 when it reached 585 days. That day, plant management greeted employees arriving for work with congratulations and certificates of achievement. A celebration luncheon was also held to continue the recognition.

“This is a truly outstanding accomplishment,” noted company spokesman Kurt Brautigam. “There are approximately 200 employees at this plant working every hour of every day, doing all kinds of jobs in all sorts of conditions. We emphasize safety in every employee’s job, and the Daniel employees have excelled. They’ve set the pace for all of us at Mississippi Power and throughout the entire Southern Company system.”

The previous Southern Company safety record for large plants was held by Georgia Power’s Plant Sherer.

MPC employees work to preserve Chunky River

Meridian-area Mississippi Power employees worked with Senator Terry Burton and Representative Billy Nicholson this year to nominate the Chunky River for Mississippi’s Scenic Stream Stewardship program. The voluntary stewardship plan incorporates agreements with individual landowners to create a connected patchwork of protective buffer zones along the length of the river or stream.

“Our employees had already adopted the Chunky under an Adopt-A-Stream program sponsored by the state Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Wildlife Federation,” said Kurt Brautigam, MPC spokesman. “They felt the Scenic Stream designation would be an appropriate next step. With the help of the legislators, they were successful in getting a bill passed that made the Chunky eligible.”

Before a nomination is submitted, a public meeting is held in the vicinity of the river or stream during which neighbors, landowners and others concerned can comment on the proposal. The actual nomination is filed as a bill and must then be adopted by the Legislature. Once a stream or river is nominated for the program, a landowner-based stewardship plan is created to help maintain water quality by keeping banks in good condition and preventing harmful sedimentation.

The Wolf River, located in the southern part of Mississippi Power’s service area, is already part of the Scenic Streams Stewardship program. The Chunky, located west and south of Meridian, is the location of Dunn’s Falls, a 65-foot waterfall once used as power for a gristmill. It is also the site where John B. Stetson learned the trade of hat making.

New grants will help first year teachers

The Mississippi Power Education Foundation has created New Teacher Assistance Grants to support first-year teachers with money for setting up their classrooms.

Each year, eight new teachers entering the profession after graduating from one of the state’s eight colleges or universities with teacher preparation programs will be eligible for an award of $750. The teachers must be employed in a school district in Mississippi Power’s service area.

In October, deans at those eight schools will receive application forms and be asked to nominate up to three teachers from the previous year’s graduates. In November, one teacher from each school will be selected to receive the awards, which will then be presented at a December luncheon.