The Monroe Power Plant is a
coal-fired power plant
A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate a ...
located in
Monroe, Michigan
Monroe is the largest city in Monroe County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 20,462 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but the two are administered autonomously. M ...
, on the western shore of
Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...
. It is owned by the
DTE Energy Electric Company
DTE Electric Company (formerly The Detroit Edison Company) is an investor-owned electric utility founded in 1886 in Detroit, Michigan. As the largest electric utility in Michigan, it serves approximately 2.3 million customers in the southeastern p ...
, a subsidiary of
DTE Energy
DTE Energy (formerly Detroit Edison until 1996) is a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services in the United States and Canada. Its operating units include an ele ...
. The plant was constructed in the early 1970s and began operating in 1971. The plant has 4 generating units, each with an output of 850 megawatts. With all four generating units operating, the plant's total output is 3,300 megawatts (3,400 MW total, with 100 MW required for the plant machinery to run). This makes it the eleventh largest electric plant in the United States.
The Monroe Power Plant connects to the power grid by numerous 120,000- and 345,000-volt
transmission line
In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. The term applies when the conductors are long enough that the wave nature of the transmis ...
s, owned and maintained by
ITC Transmission
ITC Holdings Corporation (doing business as ITC Transmission) is an American energy company which owns and operates high-voltage electricity transmission networks. Headquartered in Novi, Michigan, ITC has operations in Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, ...
. Two of the 345 kV lines going out of the plant interconnect with
FirstEnergy
FirstEnergy Corp. is an electric utility headquartered in Akron, Ohio. It was established when Ohio Edison merged with Centerior Energy in 1997. Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in distributing, transmitting, and generating electrici ...
in
Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
(Bayshore-Monroe line and the Majestic-Monroe-Allen Junction Line).
In its 2022 Integrated Resource Plan, DTE sped up the timeline for retirement from the previous date of 2040. The plant is scheduled to close two of its units in 2028. The remaining two units are planned to close by 2032, moved up from 2035 in 2023. No plans are in place as of yet to replace the 3,400 megawatts that this plant generates.
Flue gas treatment
The Monroe Power Plant did significant upgrades and maintenance at the facility in late 2007 and 2008.
Flue-gas desulfurization
Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) is a set of technologies used to remove sulfur dioxide () from exhaust flue gases of fossil-fuel power plants, and from the emissions of other sulfur oxide emitting processes such as waste incineration, petroleum ...
(FGD) units, or sulfur-oxide "scrubbers", are in operation on all four of Monroe's generating units. These devices reduce over 95% of the
sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...
() emissions.
Selective catalytic reduction
Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) means converting nitrogen oxides, also referred to as with the aid of a catalyst into diatomic nitrogen (), and water (). A reductant, typically anhydrous ammonia (), aqueous ammonia (), or a urea () soluti ...
(SCR) systems reduce the amount of by combining with the over an SCR catalyst to reduce 90% of the to water and nitrogen. Currently all of the generating units use SCRs.
See also
*
List of largest power stations in the United States
This article lists the largest List of power stations in the United States, electricity generating stations in the United States in terms of installed Nameplate capacity, electrical capacity. Non-renewable resource, Non-renewable power stations ar ...
*
List of power stations in Michigan
This is a list of electricity-generating power stations in Michigan, sorted by type and name. In 2023, Michigan had a total summer capacity of 31,120 MW through all of its power plants, and a net generation of 120,656 GWh. In 2023, the ...
References
{{Monroe, Michigan
Energy infrastructure completed in 1974
Monroe, Michigan
Coal-fired power stations in Michigan
DTE Energy
Buildings and structures in Monroe County, Michigan