New energy unit begins operation

Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. have started operation of Unit 2 (256 megawatts) at the St. Francis Power Plant, located west of Glennonville in Southeast Missouri.

St. Francis Unite 2 is a twin to the previously existing Unit 1 at Glennonville and incorporates an advanced combined-cycle combustion turbine, making it one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly power plants in the nation.

Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. overlooked the construction of the new unit, which was finished a cost of about $130 million. The new power plant can now generate a total of 501 megawatts. The first unit was completed last year.

Duke Energy North America operates five plants in Connecticut and California and has another five under construction in Ohio, Indiana, Maine, Texas and Arizona. The company looked at sites in the Marble Hill area of Bollinger County before selecting a site in Audrain County in Missouri.

The Glennonville plant employs 19 workers.

Duke Energy North America, a Houston, Texas-based company, sells wholesale power to utilities and cities that market retail electricity. Associated Electric Cooperative provides power to six regional and 51 local electric cooperative systems in Missouri, northeast Oklahoma and southeast Iowa, which serve move than 750,000 customers.