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Colo. Apprentices Fired Up About Clean Coal Plant

April 17, 2009

More than 50 Colorado apprentices are getting a firsthand look at the future of advanced clean coal technology as they complete intricate wiring and conduit work at the massive Comanche Power Station expansion in Pueblo.

“It’s so exciting to actually be here, seeing the complex work that goes on at a plant like this,” said Colorado Springs Local 113 fourth-year apprentice Jerry Swenson. Along with apprentices from Pueblo Local 12 and Denver Local 68, “we’re really getting in on the ground floor of new technology,” Swenson said.

Construction for the new $1.3 billion Comanche 3 unit began in January 2006 and is slated for completion this year. Along with two other units at the site, the station will generate more than 1,200 megawatts, or enough electricity to power one-third of the state.

Nearly 500 IBEW members are helping complete Xcel Energy’s first coal-fired power unit in nearly 30 years. Comanche units 1 and 2 were built in the early 1970s. Comanche 3 differs from its predecessors by cranking out nearly double the power, while reducing emissions like sulfur dioxide by 65 percent and nitrogen oxide by 30 percent. Compared to units of decades past, Comanche 3 illustrates a leap forward in advanced clean coal research and design.

Instructors from numerous locals work closely with the apprentices on the site. “These newer guys are very safety conscious, and they understand they’re working at the forefront of some of the latest energy production,” said John DeLuke, apprentice instructor from Local 113.

Local 12 Business Manager Dan Toussaint agrees. “Something of this magnitude is rare for apprentices to take part in, and they know and respect that.”

A project labor agreement between Xcel and the Colorado Building Trades Council ensured that the more than 1,000 union workers would build and wire Comanche 3. Forty more Denver Local 111 members will run the plant after construction is completed.

Due to the changing nature of the industry and its relationship to the environment, Swenson says that he and his fellow apprentices are eager to learn as much as possible about cleaner, renewable energy.

“On the job, a lot of the newer guys are also talking about photovoltaic and wind power,” Swenson said. “In times like these, it’s good to know that we’re getting training in booming fields, and we can use that education across a broad spectrum of projects. It’s a good time to be a union member in these industries.”