Brayton Point Power Station

Brayton Point Power Station

Brayton Point Power Station
Location of Brayton Point Power Station in Massachusetts
Country United States
Location Somerset, Massachusetts (near Fall River, Massachusetts)
Coordinates 41°42′45″N 71°11′38″W / 41.71250°N 71.19389°W / 41.71250; -71.19389Coordinates: 41°42′45″N 71°11′38″W / 41.71250°N 71.19389°W / 41.71250; -71.19389
Owner(s) Dynegy

Brayton Point Power Station, is a coal-fired power plant located in Somerset, Massachusetts, USA, which had been owned by the power company Dominion Energy New England since 2005[1] after it was purchased from PG&E. The plant was owned from August 2013 to April 2015 by Energy Capital Partners[2] and is now owned by Dynegy.

First starting operations in the 1960s, the power station is one of the largest in New England, standing on a 306-acre site,[3] with 262 full-time staff, with four power generating units powering in the region of 1.5 million homes using coal, natural gas and oil as its fuel sources. Its output from the four units are:

Brayton Power Station has been estimated to burn 40,000 tons of coal in three days, and fresh supplies are brought by barge every four days. The coal is brought from Colombia, Kentucky, and Colorado.[3]

Environmental improvements

Brayton Point Power Station on the left behind its 500-foot cooling towers.

With regulations and concerns from the public, Dominion agreed to make investments to improve in the environmental impacts of the plant in two areas.

The first area was to decrease emissions of mercury, sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide through the implementation of a system called Novel Integrated Desulphurization (NID). The NID injects lime to allow its reaction with the fumes to separate chemicals from the smoke which reduces the emissions of mercury and sulfur oxide. The company also implemented another system to pass the fumes through ammonia to reduce nitrogen oxide emission. The company reported having reduction of those emissions by 90 percents after the installation.

The other area was to reduce the impact on the water consumption and the release of heated water which was killing fish. Dominion began construction of two 500-foot cooling towers in 2009, which were completed in 2013. This was to create a close-cycle water cooling system whereby the heated water is cooled by the towers and the water is recycled back to be used in the system again. This stopped the heated water being released back to Mount Hope Bay.[4]

Sale and shutdown

In March 2013, the Virginia-based owners Dominion announced that Equipower would purchase the power station.[3] The purchase was closed in August 2013 as part of the $650 million deal that Energy Capital Partners took over three power plants, including two other plants in Illinois, the coal-fired Elwood Power Station and the natural gas-fired Kincaid Power Station.[5] In September 2013, the new owners announced that the plant would be shut down in May 2017, citing low electricity prices as well as high costs to meet environmental standards and maintain aging facilities.[6][5]

References

  1. ↑ Edes, Alyssa. "Dominion sells Brayton Point power station". bostonglobe.com. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  2. ↑ Holtzman, Michael (2 September 2013). "Energy Capital Partners buys Brayton Point from Dominion". Herald News. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Brayton Point Power Station". www.dom.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  4. ↑ Wittenberg, Ariel (11 August 2013). "An inside look at Brayton Point Power Plant in Somerset". South Coast Today. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  5. 1 2 Kuffner, Alex (8 October 2013). "New owners to shutter outmoded Brayton Point Power Station in 2017". Providence Journal. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  6. ↑ "Brayton Point Power Station Closing: Massachusetts Coal-Fired Plant Shutting Down In 2017". Huffington Post. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013.

External links

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