The Prairie State Energy Campus under construction in Washington County is expected to begin generation by the end of the year.
By December, the first of two energy-generating units at the $4 billion power plant should be ready to go online. The second is anticipated to begin by summer 2012.
Together, the two will generate 1,600 megawatts of electricity that will reach more than 2.5 million customers in eight states using what has been advertised as "clean, low-cost electricity."
Designed with the latest technology, the power plant's carbon dioxide emissions will be approximately 15 percent lower than what is typically discharged from U.S. coal-fueled plants.
The coal that will fuel the plant is coming from the adjacent Lively Grove Mine, thus eliminating the carbon emissions associated with coal transportation.
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