Huge crane towers over Drake Power Plant

The skyline of Colorado Springs looks a little different this week because there’s new equipment at the Drake Power Plant.

It’s hard to miss the 350-foot crane that’s now towering over the tallest buildings in the city.

The crane is 50-feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. Crews say it took 30 semi-trucks just to get it to Colorado Springs.

“It’s one of the biggest cranes in the state. It’s capable of lifting 660 tons,” said Daniel Higgins with Colorado Springs Utilities.

The crane is installing a new scrubber to unit 6 of the Drake Power Plant.

“The scrubber is being installed to allow us to remove sulfur from the gas,” Higgens said.

The scrubber is expected to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 90 percent.

The new emissions control equipment is being added to drake to comply with EPA regulations.

There’s talk of closing one unit at the Drake Power Plant as soon as 2018, and some wonder if the $170 million project is worth it.

“It gives us the option to consider what the best resource mix is for us. At the time the decisions were made about the scrubbers the intention was to continue running Drake. We’re completing the projects that were initiated in the 2011 time frame.”

Although the future of Drake is still in the air, for now, the power plant will begin creating much cleaner energy.

CSU said it favors a plan that would not shut down coal-burning units at Drake until after the year 2020.

The decision will not be made until at least November.