Monroe Power Plant

Monroe Power Plant
DTE Electric Company's Monroe Power Plant
Location of Monroe Power Plant in Michigan
Country	United States
Location	Monroe, Michigan
Coordinates	41°53′21″N 83°20′44″W
Status	Operational
Commission date	1971
Owner	DTE Energy Electric Company
Thermal power station
Primary fuel	Coal
Turbine technology	Steam turbine
Power generation
Units operational	4
Nameplate capacity	3,400 megawatts

The Monroe Power Plant is a coal-fired power plant located in Monroe, Michigan, on the western shore of Lake Erie. It is owned by the DTE Energy Electric Company, a subsidiary of DTE Energy. The plant was constructed in the early 1970s and began operating in 1971.[1] The plant has 4 generating units, each with an output of 850 megawatts. With all four generating units operating, the plant's total output is 3,300 megawatts (3,400 MW total, with 100 MW required for the plant machinery to run). This makes it the eleventh largest electric plant in the United States.

The Monroe Power Plant connects to the power grid by numerous 120,000- and 345,000-volt transmission lines, owned and maintained by ITC Transmission. Two of the 345 kV lines going out of the plant interconnect with FirstEnergy in Ohio (Bayshore-Monroe line and the Majestic-Monroe-Allen Junction Line).

In its 2022 Integrated Resource Plan, DTE sped up the timeline for retirement from the previous date of 2040. The plant is scheduled to close two of its units in 2028. The remaining two units are planned to close by 2032, moved up from 2035 in 2023.[2][3] No plans are in place as of yet to replace the 3,400 megawatts that this plant generates.

Flue gas treatment

The Monroe Power Plant did significant upgrades and maintenance at the facility in late 2007 and 2008. Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) units, or sulfur-oxide "scrubbers", are in operation on all four of Monroe's generating units. These devices reduce over 95% of the sulfur dioxide (SO
₂) emissions.[4]

Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems reduce the amount of NO
_x by combining NH
₃ with the NO
_x over an SCR catalyst to reduce 90% of the NO
_x to water and nitrogen. Currently all of the generating units use SCRs.

See also

• List of largest power stations in the United States
• List of power stations in Michigan

References

1. "Industry". City of Monroe. Archived from the original on 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
2. "DTE to retire coal plants by 2032, invest $11 billion in clean energy push". Reuters. 2023-07-12. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
3. "DTE looks to close Monroe Power Plant in 2028, ahead of earlier planned date of 2040". Monroe News. 7 November 2022. Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
4. "DTE's Monroe power plant marks milestone in reducing pollution". Crain's Detroit Business. 7 November 2014. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2023.