Annual review and forecast of Utah coal - Utah Geological Survey ...

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Utah Geological Survey
Table 9. Distribution of Utah coal by state, 2009.
Thousand short tons
Destination
Residential &
Commercial
Coke Plants
Industrial
Electric
Utility
Total
Alabama -- -- -- 666 666
Arizona -- -- 48 -- 48
California -- -- 1,352 808 2,160
Colorado -- -- 13 -- 13
Florida -- -- -- 238 238
Idaho 7 -- 14 -- 21
Indiana -- -- 56 -- 56
Kentucky -- -- -- 461 461
Michigan -- -- 92 -- 92
Minnesota -- -- * -- *
Missouri -- -- -- 326 326
Nebraska -- -- -- 12 12
Nevada -- -- 145 1,771 1,917
Oregon -- -- 71 -- 71
Tennessee -- -- -- 525 525
Texas -- -- 13 -- 13
Utah -- -- 664 13,330 13,994
Wisconsin -- -- 12 12 24
Total 7 -- 2,480 18,149 20,637
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Quarterly Coal Distribution, 2009; Utah data from
UGS coal company questionnaires
*Amount less than 500 tons
Industrial Market
Utah’s Industrial Market
The amount of coal delivered to industrial users within the
state of Utah totaled 664,000 tons in 2009, down 16.7%
from the 797,000 tons delivered in 2008 (table 8). However,
purchases are expected to rebound in 2010, reaching
an estimated 799,000 tons. Typically, 60% of industrialuse,
in-state coal is purchased by Kennecott Utah Copper
and used to generate electricity for copper smelting; the
remaining coal is delivered to companies that produce cement,
lime, and other construction products (table 10).
Out-of-State Industrial Market
Deliveries of Utah coal to industrial plants in other states
declined 24.8% in 2009 to 1.8 million tons, mostly likely
due to the reduced demand resulting from the slow economy
(table 8). Deliveries for 2009 are expected to decrease
even further to 1.5 million tons. California is the largest
industrial consumer of Utah coal, with deliveries of 1.4
million tons in 2009 (table 9). Other states receiving significant
amounts of Utah coal for industrial use were Arizona,
Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon,
Texas, and Wisconsin. It is important to note that a large
portion of out-of-state industrial deliveries could be going
to cogeneration plants. These plants are only required to
use 5.0% of their power generation for industrial use, with
the remainder typically sold to the power grid.
Cogeneration Market
Typical cogeneration (“cogen”) facilities provide process
steam and power for industry, but many also generate
electricity for consumer markets, providing a maximum
allowable 95% of total net capacity to the grid. Many such
plants, primarily in California, are major customers of
Utah coal (table 10).
Utah’s Sunnyside Cogeneration plant was originally designed
as a true cogen plant, which would have supplied
a minimum of 5.0% of its power to a commercial greenhouse.
However, since the plant burns waste coal, it is designated
as a qualifying facility, which under the Federal
Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act is exempt from the
cogeneration requirement, and the proposed commercial
greenhouse was never developed. Subsequently, all of the
power from the Sunnyside cogen plant goes directly to the
grid.
The Sunnyside plant is rated at 51 net MW and uses circulating
fluidized-bed combustion technology to burn about
400,000 tons of waste coal annually supplied from the
closed Sunnyside coal washing operation, as well as waste
coal from the closed Star Point wash plant (table 11). The
heating value of the Sunnyside fuel varies from 4000 to