Labadie Plant

 Location

Outside Labadie, Mo., on 1,100 acres adjacent to the Missouri River, 35 miles west of downtown St. Louis.

History

First unit placed into operation in 1970. The plant was fully operational in 1973. Total cost to build: $750 million.

Labadie Plant is a national leader in generating electricity cleanly and efficiently:

• The state of Missouri presented Labadie Plant with the Resource Steward Award in 1983 to honor the company’s efforts toward "preserving and wisely using Missouri’s precious resource" by removing PCBs from our environment. Between 1981 and 1997, Labadie converted more than 4.5 million gallons of PCB-contaminated oil into an estimated 56,000 megawatts of electricity.
• In 1998, Labadie was one of three AmerenUE plants to earn the Missouri Governor’s Pollution Prevention Award for successfully reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions 50% more than required by Missouri regulations.
• In 2000, Labadie was recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as the nation’s lowest emitter of NOx.
• From 2000 to 2009, Labadie set generation records six out of ten years.

Operation

When all four of its units are operating at full load, the plant burns more than 1,200 tons of coal to produce 16 million pounds of steam per hour. The coal comes into the plant on 140-car uni-trains and eventually travels through pulverizers that give it the consistency of face powder; the powdery coal is blown into the boiler furnace. The steam flows into a turbine that turns a shaft. On the end of the shaft is a magnet that revolves inside a wire coil to create electricity.

Fuel Type

Low-sulfur coal. The plant typically burns 10 million tons of coal annually.