A significant Pennsylvania coal-fired energy plant, the most important coal-burning facility within the state earlier than it was closed in 2023, could also be transformed to a pure gas-fired station. Officers in Homer Metropolis on Dec. 3 introduced plans to restart the Homer Metropolis Producing Station and enhance its producing capability by burning pure gasoline. A redevelopment group additionally stated using hydrogen, and set up of solar energy, could possibly be doable sooner or later.
Robin Gorman, vice chairman of Homer Metropolis Redevelopment LLC, mentioned the plan throughout conferences with native residents in Indiana County on Tuesday. Gorman stated changing the closed coal plant to burn pure gasoline additionally might present different future income streams for the ability. She stated the plant’s technology capability might probably be doubled, which might make it the most important pure gas-fired energy plant within the U.S., topping the three,777-MW West County Vitality Middle in Palm Seashore County, Florida.
Pure gas-fired energy vegetation generate greater than half of Pennsylvania’s electrical energy, with greater than three dozen working gas-fired stations, in line with state information. Pennsylvania is the second-largest producer of pure gasoline within the U.S., behind solely Texas.
State officers have stated all remaining coal-fired items in Pennsylvania are scheduled to be shut down, or transformed to burn pure gasoline, by 2028.
Three Coal-Fired Models
The Homer Metropolis Producing Station was a 2-GW coal-fired plant with three items, the primary two of which entered operation in 1969. The third unit got here on-line in 1977. The plant, positioned simply exterior Homer Metropolis about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh, was taken offline for decommissioning in the summertime of 2023. It was identified each for being a serious polluter and for its smokestacks, with the Unit 3 stack at 1,217 toes tall thought-about the tallest within the U.S.
The plant lately was dogged by modifications in possession, two bankruptcies, a default on a debt cost and a lawsuit towards its coal provider. The plant additionally was sued by the U.S. Environmental Safety Company, with the grievance saying the ability was in violation of the Clear Air Act.
The plant was acquired by personal fairness in 2017 after then-owner Homer Metropolis Era LP filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety. The plant, operated by NRG, had beforehand been owned by Basic Electrical, and earlier than that by Edison Worldwide.
The U.S. Vitality Data Administration (EIA) stated the Homer Metropolis plant had a utilization fee, or capability issue, of about 90% throughout its first 30 years of operation. The capability issue had a marked decline over the following twenty years, falling to about 20% in 2022, in line with the EIA. The company stated as new pure gas-fired energy vegetation had been inbuilt Pennsylvania to benefit from market circumstances, the Homer Metropolis plant was dispatched most frequently for load following, fairly than to produce baseload energy.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
