Flint Creek in Gentry, owned jointly and equally by American Electric Power and the Arkansas Electric Cooperative, will receive $408 million in environmental controls including a dry flue gas desulfurization system to reduce SO2 emissions; and low NOx burners and overfire air to reduce NOx emissions.
It will also see the installation of activated carbon injection to reduce mercury emissions and a fabric filter (baghouse) to filter particulate matter.
SWEPCO first filed its request for the facility, open since 1978, in February 2012.
The retrofits are required by the EPA to be in compliance with federal guidelines on operating coal plants after April 16, 2016.
SWEPCO did receive a one-year extension to the standard 2015 deadline from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality that allows it to continue operations if the company is in the process of installing controls.
Pending environmental permit approvals, construction of the controls should commence next January.
“The commission has done a thorough job of evaluating our request, and we are very pleased that they have found the Flint Creek retrofit to be in the public interest,” SWEPCO president and chief operating officer Venita McCellon-Allen said.
“The commission’s decision recognizes that the addition of new technology will allow Flint Creek to meet stringent new EPA regulations and continue providing reliable and affordable power to SWEPCO customers and Arkansas Electric Cooperative members.”
