Oklaunion Power Plant
CountryUnited States
LocationWilbarger County, near Vernon, Texas
Coordinates34°4′57″N 99°10′34″W / 34.08250°N 99.17611°W / 34.08250; -99.17611
StatusDecommissioned[1]
Commission date1986
Decommission dateSeptember 30th 2020 [1]
Owner(s)American Electric Power (AEP) 70%
Texas Public Utility Board 18%
Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority 12%
Operator(s)AEP
Thermal power station
Primary fuelCoal
Cooling sourceLake Diversion
Power generation
Nameplate capacity650 MW

Oklaunion Power Plant is a 650-megawatt (MW), coal power plant located southeast of Vernon, Texas, in Wilbarger County, Texas. Its unit is operated by American Electric Power (AEP). The plant began commercial generation in 1986.

History

The construction for Oklaunion began in 1982 and was commissioned by West Texas Utilities, a forerunner of AEP.[2] The plant commenced commercial generation in December 1986.[3] Initially, the coal was transported from the Rawhide Mine in Wyoming.[4] In 2017, the plant received 719,467 short tons of coal from the North Antelope Rochelle Mine by train according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).[5] The plant's cooling source came from Lake Diversion, located in Archer and Baylor County, Texas.[6]

In September 2018, AEP announced it was shutting down Oklaunion by September 2020, citing production costs and being no longer competitive in the power market.[7][8] The plant was bought by Frontier Energy, which planned to convert it to natural gas over five years.[9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Oklaunion Power Plant Remembered as Great Place to Work". October 2020.
  2. ↑ "Groundbreaking For WTU Coal Plant is May 22". Quanah Tribune Chief. May 13, 1982. p. 8. Retrieved October 13, 2018 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  3. ↑ "West Texas Utilities puts Oklaunion plant on line". The Foard County News. January 22, 1987. p. 2. Retrieved October 13, 2018 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  4. ↑ "WTU Signs Fuel Pact With Exxon". Quanah Tribune Chief. May 24, 1981. p. 1. Retrieved October 13, 2018 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  5. ↑ "Coal Data Browser – Shipments to Oklaunion". Energy Information Administration (EIA). Retrieved October 13, 2018.
  6. ↑ Knight, Bridget (April 26, 2017). "Back in the Day: A power behemouth comes online". Times Record News. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  7. ↑ Navera, Tristan (September 25, 2018). "AEP closing another coal-fired power plant". Columbus Business First. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  8. ↑ McBride, Landon (September 21, 2018). "How power plant closure will affect Vernon". KFDX-TV. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  9. ↑ Garza, Jeremy (October 23, 2020). "Frontier Energy buys Oklaunion AEP power plant, plans to convert to natural gas". Texomashomepage.com. Archived from the original on 2021-10-25. Retrieved 2021-05-15.


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