Welcome to the Sandy Creek Energy Station. Construction of the electric generation station started outside of the town of Riesel, Texas in 2008. The facility started commercial operation in 2012. The Sandy Creek Energy Station is a nominal 900-megawatt (MW) super-critical electrical generating unit (EGU) that burns low sulfur sub-bituminous coal brought in by train from the Powder River Basin. The unit is equipped with one pulverized coal (PC) boiler, one multiple shell condensing steam turbine generator, multiple steam surface condensers, one multiple cell mechanical draft cooling tower, one auxiliary boiler, and various auxiliary equipment. The Air Quality Control System (AQCS) includes:
- Low NOx burners, Overfire Air and a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system to control nitrogen oxides (NOx),
- Powdered Activated Carbon Injection (ACI) System for the removal of mercury emissions,
- Spray Dry Absorber for the removal of sulfur dioxide emissions and acid gases, and
- Fabric Filter for the removal of particulate matter.
During the combustion of coal in the boiler non-combustible residues (bottom ash) fall from the PC boiler into quench water and are continuously removed using an enclosed conveyor system and conveyed from a chute onto a concrete pad surrounded on three sides with a concrete enclosure. Ash from the PC boiler’s economizer is transported from the economizer area by screw conveyor and dropped onto the bottom ash conveying system and mixed with this bottom ash.
Combustible solid residues or particulate matter exiting the boiler, as well as solids residues captured in the AQCS are referred to as fly ash. The fly ash is conveyed via a closed system to a storage silo. For on-site disposal, a pug mill adds moisture to avoid fugitive dust, and the moistened ash is dropped from one of two silo chutes and loaded into open-topped trucks which transfer the fly ash to the SCES’s on-site Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) Waste Management Facility (“Landfill”). For off-site sales, the fly ash is loaded dry from the silo via an enclosed, telescoping system, into enclosed tank trucks for transport off the SCES’s property.
This website is designed in accordance with the standards for the disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals in Landfills found in Title 40 of the Federal Code of Regulations, Chapter I, Subchapter I, Part 257, Subpart D. Authority for the enforcement of these rules has been delegated by the Environmental Protection Agency to the State of Texas. The State of Texas approved rules or Texas CCR Program for the management of Coal Combustion Residuals can be found in Title 30 of the Texas Administrative Code, Part 1, Chapter 352. The documents and information required by these rules will be posted as the information and data become available.
The documents and reports in this website present the design criteria, location restrictions, site operation, groundwater monitoring and testing, reporting and recordkeeping requirements for the SCES’s Coal Combustion Residual Waste Management Facility in compliance with the Texas CCR Program.
In accordance with 40 CFR 257.107, the SCES is maintaining this website with the applicable documents. Any comments, concerns or issues with the website or documents, please contact SCES.