OGE Moves Ahead with Permitting Process for Mustang Power Plant

After being rejected by the state with plans to eventually put an end to its aging Mustang Power Plant, Oklahoma Gas and Electric is in the midst of steps to seek a routine permit from the state with eventual possible plans to replace some of the aging units. For now, it’s going through a permitting process it has followed for decades.

OGE is seeking what is called an “acid rain” permit from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. The permit is part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Acid Rain Program which was created in 1995 to limit nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions from electrical generation units and to reduce regional acid rain impacts.

“It has nothing really to do with the the Corporation Commission’s rejection,” explained Kathleen O’Shea, Communications Director at OGE in an interview with OK Energy Today. “We have to update it every four to five years per EPA mandates. It’s just a permitting process.”

The request is for approval to operate the Generating Station and six gas-fired turbines and associated equipment. A routine construction permit was issued on Dec. 11, 2015 allowing the installation of seven new simple cycle turbines. The turbines, according to Erin Hatfield, Public Information Manager at the Department of Environmental Quality will be subject to the Acid Rain Program. The application by OGE is currently under technical review at the DEQ.

But it also means the utility eventually will replace some of the aging turbines.

“We very likely will replace the units. They’re really, really old,” added O’Shea. “They were installed back in the Truman era.” As in President Harry Truman.

What OGE might replace the gas turbines with are jet combustion turbines.

“Jet combustion takes about 12 minutes to start,” explained O’Shea. “Gas turbines take 12 hours.”

She said when wind drops off and the utility cannot receive enough electricity from renewable energy, it has to start up the generating station. Going from a 12-hour startup of the turbines to 12 minutes would be more efficient.

But there is no timetable regarding any possible replacement of the gas turbines.