Charles P. Crane Generating Station

The Charles P. Crane Generating Station was a 400 megawatt (MW) coal power plant located on the Carroll Island Road in Bowleys Quarters, Maryland, 14 miles (23 km) east of Baltimore. The power plant was operated by C.P. Crane, LLC, a subsidiary of Avenue Capital Group. The station had two coal-fired generating units, rated at 190 and 209 MW nominal capacity,[1] and powered by cyclone steam boilers.[2] It also had a 16 MW oil-fired combustion turbine.[1] The Crane station occupies 157 acres (64 ha) on the Middle River Neck Peninsula adjacent to the Seneca Creek tributary of the Gunpowder River, and is on the rural side of the Baltimore County Urban Rural Demarcation Line. The plant was closed in June 2018.

Charles P. Crane Generating Station
CountryUnited States
LocationBowleys Quarters, Maryland
Coordinates39°19′25″N 76°21′59″W
StatusDecommissioned
Commission dateUnit 1: July, 1961
Unit 2: February, 1963
Decommission dateUnits 1–2: June 1, 2018
Owner(s)Avenue Capital Group
Thermal power station
Primary fuelBituminous coal
Secondary fuelFuel oil
Turbine technologySteam turbine
Cooling sourceSeneca Creek (Gunpowder River)
Power generation
Nameplate capacity400 MW

The plant was left to nature and it is still unknown what will happen to it.

Coal delivery

Coal was delivered to the generating station by a dedicated rail spur used by the Norfolk Southern Railway that connects to Amtrak's Northeast Corridor line. Regulatory approval to construct facilities allowing delivery by barge using a dredged channel from the Chesapeake Bay was granted in 2006.[3] The cyclone boilers required the use of medium-sulfur, low-fusion coal, which was supplied mainly using North Appalachian Pittsburgh Seam 8 coal.[4] The station used approximately 950,000 tons of coal each year.[4]

History

The two cyclone boiler units were originally oil-fired. Unit 1 went into operation in 1961 and unit 2 in 1963.[2] These two units were modified to use coal as their primary fuel following an order by the Department of Energy under the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974.[4]

The station was named for Charles P. Crane, who from 1950 to 1957 was president of the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, the predecessor company of Constellation Energy, and its chairman from 1955 to 1961.

2012 sale

On August 9, 2012, Exelon announced that it had reached an agreement, subject to regulatory approvals, for the sale of the Charles P. Crane, Brandon Shores, and Herbert A. Wagner Generating Stations to Raven Power Holdings LLC, a newly formed portfolio company of Riverstone Holdings LLC.[5] Exelon had committed to divest the plants as condition for regulatory approval of its merger with Constellation Energy to alleviate concerns regarding potential market power in the regional wholesale electricity market. The sale was completed on November 30, 2012.

Talen Energy and 2016 sale

Talen Energy assumed ownership of the plant on June 1, 2015 when the company was established as the combination of Riverstone Holdings, LLC with PPL Corporation's spun off power generation business. As a condition of the merger, Talen was required by FERC to sell about 1,300 MW of generation in the PJM region to avoid dominating the market.[6] Talen announced on October 23, 2015 that the C.P. Crane plant would be sold in early 2016 to an affiliate of Avenue Capital Group as one of its divestitures to fulfill the FERC order.[7] The sale was completed on February 16, 2016,[8] at which time the plant began operating as C.P. Crane, LLC.

Closure

Crane's owners filed a deactivation notice with PJM Interconnection in November 2016.[9] The plant was closed on June 1, 2018.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2006" (Excel). Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy. 2006. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  2. "Environmental Review of Proposed Air Pollution Control Project at Charles P. Crane Generating Station" (pdf). Maryland Department of Natural Resources. May 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  3. "Maryland Public Service Commission Order No. 80795" (pdf). May 17, 2006. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  4. "Environmental Analysis Application for CPCN Authorizing Modification of the C. P. Crane Generating Station" (pdf). Maryland Department of Natural Resources. March 27, 2006. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  5. "Exelon Agrees to Sell Three Maryland Coal Plants to Raven Power Holdings LLC" (Press release). Exelon. Aug 9, 2012. Retrieved Aug 13, 2012.
  6. Corporation, Talen Energy. "Talen Energy Debuts as One of the Largest Independent Power Producers in U.S." www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  7. Sun, Baltimore. "Talen selling coal-fired power plant in Baltimore County". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  8. Sun, Baltimore. "Talen Energy sells coal-fired power plant in Middle River". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  9. Pomilio, Emily; Kresowik, Mark (November 21, 2016). "C.P. Crane Coal-Fired Power Plant Files for Deactivation". Sierra Club. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  10. "PJM Generation Deactivations". May 17, 2006. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.