Abstract for CIM by Paul R. Clark, Director, Fuel Supply, TransAlta Corp.
TransAlta’s Centralia Mine
TransAlta Corporation in May of 2000, purchased the 1,340 megawatt (MW) Centralia coal fired power plant and captive coal mine located in Centralia, Washington State in the Pacific Northwest. This was the first power plant in the US to have been purchased by a Canadian company.
One of the key drivers in making this purchase a success, is our plan to significantly invest in the mine by spending approximately $100 million on new mine equipment and other technology to increase the productivity and production of both the mine and power plant, while lowering unit costs of production.
This paper describes how we arrived at that decision and how we are doing on that journey.
