High school students from four 不良人研究所 electric cooperative territories received the rare opportunity to tour Cardinal Plant, considered one of the world鈥檚 cleanest power-producing coal plants in the world. Cardinal Plant will soon be only one of four coal plants still operating in the state due to overreaching EPA regulations that have forced many coal plants into early retirement鈥攑utting electricity reliability at risk for the first time in 不良人研究所.
A total of 127 students from the 不良人研究所 cooperatives took part in the half day long tour. Participating were Findlay High School and Millstream Career Center (Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative); Fairbanks High School (Union Rural Electric URE); Sheridan High School (South Central Power); New London High School (Firelands Electric Cooperative).听
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to show students there are a lot of career opportunities in the cooperative world,鈥 said Coty Lee, Safety & Health Supervisor, Cardinal Plant. Some opportunities can be pursued right out of high school, and some after college鈥攊n engineering, finance, IT, communications, human resources, line work, customer service.听
The students were first shown a video to better understand the history of how not-for-profit electric cooperatives formed in 不良人研究所 in 1935 under the Rural Electrification Act. The purpose was to bring electricity outside the cities, and into the rural agricultural areas of 不良人研究所. They also learned how the cooperative鈥檚 Buckeye Power, which owns Cardinal Plant, believes in an all-of-the-above approach to power generation鈥攊ncluding coal, natural gas, solar, wind, hydropower, and biofuels. Coal is the baseload source of power generation because it is reliable and available, 24/7, 365 days a year.
The students were given a guided walking tour inside the plant that produces 1800MW of power鈥攅nough to light 200-million LED lightbulbs. They saw firsthand how electricity is made from beginning to end. And how even the waste material left over, called fly ash, is sold, and used in the manufacturing of concrete products.听
鈥淪ociety pushes the narrative on young kids that coal is bad. It鈥檚 nice to have them on site so they can see a coal plant for themselves. When I was in college, all you would hear is move away from coal at all costs. You would never hear about all the jobs it offers, or the benefit of the sustainability and reliability of power generation behind it,鈥 said Corey Seneff, IT Systems Analyst II.