Widows Creek Fossil Plant (also known as the Widows Creek Power Plant) was a 1.6-gigawatt (1,600 MW) coal power plant, 4.8 miles (7.7 km) east of Stevenson, Alabama, USA. The plant, operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, generated about nine billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. It had one of the tallest chimneys in the world at 305 metres (1,001 ft), which was built in 1977, and was removed December 3, 2020 in a controlled demolition.[1] Along with the Chimney of the Harllee Branch Power Plant, it is the tallest chimney to be demolished in the United States.
| Widows Creek Fossil Plant | |
|---|---|
 Widows Creek Fossil Plant | |
 | |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Jackson County, near Stevenson, Alabama |
| Coordinates | 34°53′03″N 85°45′18″W / 34.88417°N 85.75500°W |
| Status | Being decommissioned |
| Commission date | Unit 1: July, 1952 Unit 2: October, 1952 Unit 3: November, 1952 Unit 4: January, 1953 Unit 5: June, 1954 Unit 6: July, 1954 Unit 7: February, 1961 Unit 8: February, 1965 |
| Decommission date | Unit 7: September, 2015 |
| Owner | Tennessee Valley Authority |
| Thermal power station | |
| Primary fuel | Bituminous coal |
| Cooling source | Tennessee River |
| Power generation | |
| Units decommissioned | 8 |
| Nameplate capacity | 1,600 MW |
| Annual net output | 9,000 GWh |
| External links | |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
History
editInitially, six identical 140-MWe units were built between 1952 and 1954. Two more units (575 and 550 MWe name-plate capacity) were added in 1961 and 1965.[2][3]
The last load of coal was delivered to the plant on September 18, 2015, with only one of its eight generation units working. The coal was enough to power Unit 7 until September 23, 2015.[4][5]
Accidents and incidents
editOn January 9, 2009, the plant experienced a dam break on a gypsum slurry pond, and spilled up to 10,000 US gallons (38 m3) of waste (possibly including boron, cadmium, molybdenum and selenium) into the creek of the same name on the property, inundating it with an ashlike substance.[6]
EPA compliance agreement
editOn April 14, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations at 11 of its coal-fired plants in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee.[7] Under the terms of the agreement, the entire Widows Creek plant was affected:[8]
- Units 1–6 were retired in stages of two units per year, beginning by July 31, 2013 and ending by July 31, 2015
- Units 7 & 8 were to be fitted with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) devices to reduce their emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx)
- In December, 2020, the towering smokestack at the Widows Creek Fossil Plant, standing at an height of 1,001 feet, was brought down in a controlled demolition using explosives. This operation, completed in a mere 90 seconds, effectively removed the largest remaining structure at the 8-unit coal-fired power plant situated along the Tennessee River.
Future
editThis article needs to be updated. (June 2021) |
On June 24, 2015, Google, a multinational technology company, announced it would invest $600 million to install a data center on land made available by the retirement of Units 1-6. A renewable power capacity equivalent to the data center's needs will be added somewhere on the TVA system, so the data center will run on renewable energy.[9] The project broke ground in April 2018.[10]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ "VIDEO: Demolition of 1,000ft chimney at an old power plant in Alabama | PortandTerminal.com". www.portandterminal.com. Archived from the original on 2021-02-02.
- ^ "Widows Creek Fossil Plant Celebrates 50 Years of Service" (Press release). Tennessee Valley Authority. September 12, 2002. Archived from the original on October 18, 2002. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
- ^ "Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2006". Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy. 2006. Archived from the original (Excel) on August 22, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
- ^ "Last load of coal delivered at TVA's Widows Creek plant". Times Free Press. September 19, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
- ^ "Even Appalachia Is Walking Away From Coal". www.slate.com. The Slate Group. October 2, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
- ^ Dewan, Shaila (January 9, 2009). "Waste Spills at Another T.V.A. Power Plant". The New York Times.
- ^ Tennessee Valley Authority Clean Air Act Settlement
- ^ Federal Facilities Compliance Agreement Between EPA and TVA
- ^ Gammons, Patrick (June 24, 2015). "A power plant for the Internet: our newest data center in Alabama". Google. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
- ^ Flessner, Dave (April 9, 2018). "Google building $600 million data center on former TVA coal plant". Times Free Press. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
External links
edit- TVA site
- Chimney Diagram
- View from Tennessee River
Media related to Widows Creek Power Plant at Wikimedia Commons
