Power Supply Strategy

The BLP’s power supply strategy is to balance environmentally responsible and diversified fuel sources to ensure the utility’s long-term reliability while demonstrating environmental stewardship. The Board of Light & Power (BLP) owns and operates two electric generating facilities, six substations, and approximately 220 miles of electric distribution lines. Our generating facilities include the J.B. Sims Generating Station located at 1231 N. Third St. on Harbor Island and the Diesel Plant located at 518 Harbor in Grand Haven, Michigan.

Power Supply

The J.B. Sims Generating Station is a coal fired steam-generation power plant with a total production capacity of 80 MW (73 MW net). We currently use a blend of Illinois and Powder River Basin lower sulfur coal to fuel the plant, which is transported by rail to Chicago where it is blended at the docks. After blending, the coal is shipped by cargo shipping vessels to the BLP between April and November. The BLP’s Diesel Plant houses five large operating diesel engines and has a total generating capacity of 21.8 MW (21.2 MW net). The fuel used to run these engines includes #5 Oil, natural gas and a blend of #2 Oil and Biofuel made from sources including soy beans, corn, and waste vegetable oil. Today the BLP serves approximately 13,500 customers including residential and business in the City of Grand Haven, Ferrysburg, and portions of Grand Haven Township, Robinson Township and Spring Lake Township. 

Energy Conversion Basics:

R. John Minor explains in Electric Utility Basics, "Electric generating plants convert potential energy in various forms to the kinetic energy of electric current. Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be converted from one form to another. The challenge is to take energy in the forms that are readily available and convert them to the forms that are most useful. Electricity is one of the most useful forms of energy because it can be readily converted to other forms safely and, for the most part, cleanly. A fossil-fuel fired, steam-generating plant such as the J.B. Sims Generating Station on Harbor Island converts the chemical energy of coal to electrical energy. Power plants are typically classified by the type of potential energy they convert. The various classifications are as follows:

• Fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, fuel oil)
• Nuclear fuel (uranium)
• Hydroelectric (falling water)
• Solar energy (heat from the sun and force from the wind)
• Other solid fuels (solid waste, wood, crops)

Fossil fuels account for more than 75 percent of electric energy production capacity in the United States."