Coal Handling Problems Solved at Northern States Power
Coal Handling Problems Solved at Northern States Power
2 PagesCoal Handling Problems Solved at Northern States Power Northern States Power (NSP) - Minneapolis, Minnesota The Need Northern States Power (NSP) has a 384 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Minneapolis, Minnesota with coal bunkers built more than 30 years ago. Little consideration was given during the design stage to the flow properties of the coal. As a result, flow problems could be expected, even when handling what is considered to be relatively free-flowing bituminous coal. After switching to a low sulfur sub-bituminous coal, NSP experienced several fires and one explosion in its unit 7 coal bunker. Immediately, a task force known as “Operation Cease Fire” was set up to investigate and eliminate the spontaneous combustion problem in all of NSP’s plants. The problem was determined to
