Decatur County REMC employees recently toured a number of Hoosier Energy facilities around southern Indiana to build their knowledge and understanding of the power generation and supply process. The educational opportunity gave most employees their first look at Hoosier Energy’s facilities, broadening the level of service and support the employees provide members. Hoosier Energy is the power supplier for DCREMC.

A group of 15 employees with matching green “We love our members” T-shirts began the tour at Decatur County REMC headquarters. The first stop was Hoosier Energy’s headquarters in Bloomington where they learned about the design and development of the building and the energy-efficient measures put in place.

The tour continued at the natural gas-fired Worthington Generation Station. This quick-start facility, located near Worthington, can be available to generate energy in 15 minutes. With five engines in place, the facility can produce up to 172 megawatts. 

The tour continued to the Merom Generating Station near Sullivan. This 1,070-megawatt coal-fired facility stands nine stories tall. Employees watched a video that highlighted plant operations. The tour showed co-op employees the environmental controls in place including electrostatic precipitators, flu gas desulphurization and selective catalytic reduction systems. Inside the boiler house, tour guides from Hoosier Energy showed how steam is created and pressurized to turn turbines.

Amy Ewing, staff assistant at Decatur County REMC, has nearly 20 years experience working with the co-op. She was amazed at the process of generating electricity.

“This tour will help me with my customer focus and have a better understanding of the day-to-day operations taking place from our power supplier,” said Ewing.