Valley Power Plant Unit 1 now fueled on natural gas

Valley Power Plant

Conversion of Unit 1 at the Valley Power Plant in Milwaukee from coal to natural gas was completed successfully Nov. 5, and operation control turned over to plant staff.

According to Al Mihm, director – generation project development, “The two boilers have been tested and commissioned and are running very well on natural gas.”

Tom Metcalfe, senior vice president – power generation, accepted the turnover, noting, “This milestone is a credit to our employees and engineers, as well as our contractors, who were able to commission the new equipment without a single unintended boiler trip. It’s equally satisfying to see that the unit is able to perform at least as well on natural gas as it did on coal.”

Along with maintaining a reliable and affordable source of steam for approximately 400 downtown customers, the conversion from coal to natural gas will improve the environmental profile of the plant and continue to support the transmission network in downtown Milwaukee.

Unit 2 will be converted to natural gas next year.