Prairie State Energy Campus

Prairie State Energy Campus
Location of Prairie State Energy Campus in Illinois
Country	United States
Location	Lively Grove Township, Washington County, near Marissa, Illinois
Coordinates	38°16′40″N 89°40′4″W / 38.27778°N 89.66778°W / 38.27778; -89.66778Coordinates: 38°16′40″N 89°40′4″W / 38.27778°N 89.66778°W / 38.27778; -89.66778
Commission date	2012
Owner(s)	Prairie State Energy Campus (consortium)
Thermal power station
Type	Coal
Power generation
Units operational	2
Nameplate capacity	1,600 MW

Prairie State Energy Campus is a 1,600 megawatt base load, coal-fired, electrical power station and coal mine near Marissa, Illinois southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Prairie State Energy Campus (PSEC) features low levels of regulated emissions compared to other coal-fired power stations, capturing sulfur from high-sulfur coal mined nearby instead of transporting low-sulfur coal from elsewhere.

Proposed and led by Peabody Energy Corporation, the project is jointly owned by eight public electric utilities with Peabody retaining 5% ownership, and is being operated by Prairie State Generating Company, LLC. The first 800 MW generator went online in June and the second in November, 2012. The project's Lively Grove underground mine is expected to produce 6 million tons of high sulfur coal per year.

PSEC stated it will be "among the cleanest major coal-fueled plants in the nation" through use of clean coal technology, producing as low as one-fifth the levels of regulated pollutants as typical U.S. coal-fired plants. Noting that projected emissions nevertheless include 25,000 tons of soot and smog-forming pollutants yearly, the Sierra Club and other organizations unsuccessfully sued to stop the EPA granting an air permit.

According to the Chicago Tribune, PSEC will be the "largest source of carbon dioxide built in the United States in a quarter-century." The company projects a 15% reduction in carbon dioxide pollution compared with other coal-fired power plants based on its use of efficient supercritical steam generators and no emissions from transporting coal.

Judging that regulatory limits on carbon emissions are not likely in the near future, Peabody chose not to employ a more expensive integrated gasification combined cycle design that could more easily be retrofitted with carbon capture technology. The Environmental Protection Agency first proposed limits in March 2012. The limit of 1000 lbs CO₂ emissions per megawatt-hour electricity would require future coal-powered generating stations to capture approximately half of their CO₂ output. The limit would not apply to existing and under-construction generating stations, including PSEC.