Manitowoc Public Utilities is on the leading edge of the future of the electrical supply industry.
Not only has MPU been able to keep their rates among the lowest in the state, the local utility has also been able to adapt to change and become a driving force for bio-renewable fuel in the country.
General Manager Troy Adams took over his role in 2020 at a time when MPU was reevaluating the coal-based power plant and how to extend its life.
“We had the coal pile downtown. We were looking at rates. We were looking at the long-term viability of operating a plant on solid fossil fuel. And there was an end. It was coming,” he recalled. “We were going to have to shut the plant down based on that business model.”
But, instead of shutting the plant down and building a new one, the leadership team at MPU turned to their employees for ideas on how to repurpose the plant and keep the reliability they have become well known for.
Adams tells SeehaferNews.com that they had several very creative ideas come to light, including the expanded use of a fuel they had been sprinkling in with the coal since the 1990s.
“It is clean industrial waste,” he explained. “So, the company in Green Bay, and there’s one in Appleton, that makes it for us, had gone through the process of working with the EPA and are working with the Wisconsin DNR to get this classified as a renewable fuel.”
The big draw towards these pellets, which are made by industrial plants in Green Bay and Appleton, includes the fact that they have a similar output as coal, but not all plants can utilize it.
MPU’s power plant is different.
“Older power plants would run it through, and a lot of fuel would blow out with the ash. It was it was inefficient, but then you’d also have all that waste,” Adams noted. “Ours is designed to keep the fuel circulating until it is completely used up, so you get maximum output.”
Not only did the use of this fuel extend the life of the power plant, the move also has had a major impact on the environment.
“If this wasn’t going into the power plant, it would be going into the landfill and becomes methane, which is actually worse for the environment,” Adams revealed. “We actually have a 55% reduction in greenhouse gases by turning it into fuel and running it through our power plant.”
From a reliability standpoint, MPU is able to stockpile a large quantity of these pellets, which gives Manitowoc a unique goal for the future.
“If the Wisconsin grid drops, we could disconnect from the grid and still provide power here,” Adams said. “We’re not there. We’re working towards that. But that’s kind of the thing is, we have these assets here. The community paid for them. Let’s position so that we could do that if we wanted to.”
This transition, formally known as the Refuel Renewable Project, has put MPU on the forefront of the renewable energy industry, and they have drawn a lot of attention.
“We’ve gone and presented at a number of conferences on this, and now people are calling and asking,” Adams said. “We’ve had we’ve had people come and tour the facilities a few times over the last couple of years. Are others going to try and replicate this? I don’t know. Maybe.”
Adams joked that MPU is “boxing outside of our weight class” with this project, which he said puts them on par with some other major cities in the U.S.
“L.A. is also a municipal utility. The San Antonio is a municipal utility. We feel like we’re kind of in the same level from an innovative standpoint as some of these much bigger utilities,” he proclaimed.
A second energy source is in the works as well, transforming industrial sludge waste into clean, burnable pellets.
There is still quite a ways to go behind the scenes before this pellet, which has a higher BTU than the ones being used now, would be put into use.
Additional details on the project and everything else going on at Manitowoc Public Utilities can be found at MPU.org.