Bay Shore Plant
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Bay Shore Plant is a retired power station in Toledo, Lucas, Ohio, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Bay Shore Plant | Toledo, Lucas, Ohio, United States | 41.692528, -83.437753 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4: 41.692528, -83.437753
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | retired | coal: waste coal | 140.6 | subcritical | 1955 | 2000 |
| Unit 2 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 140.6 | subcritical | 1959 | 2012 |
| Unit 3 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 140.6 | subcritical | 1963 | 2012 |
| Unit 4 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 217.6 | subcritical | 1968 | 2012 |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Orca Acquisitions LLC [100%] | WALLEYE POWER LLC [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Orca Acquisitions LLC [100%] | WALLEYE POWER LLC [100.0%] |
| Unit 3 | Orca Acquisitions LLC [100%] | WALLEYE POWER LLC [100.0%] |
| Unit 4 | Orca Acquisitions LLC [100%] | WALLEYE POWER LLC [100.0%] |
Project-level coal details
- Coal source(s): BP refinery - petcoke
Background
The plant was formerly owned by FirstEnergy and predecessor Toledo Edison. Units 2-4, all coal-fired, were retired in 2012.[1]
Since 2000, Bay Shore Unit 1’s boiler was operating exclusively off petroleum coke produced at the nearby BP-Husky refinery. FirstEnergy in 2016 said it would shut down or sell Bay Shore Unit 1 by October 2020, when its agreement with the BP-Husky refinery expired.[2] However, the plant was sold to Walleye Power, LLC in 2018 and continued to operate[3] and report emissions to the EPA.[4] The plant provided steam to the adjacent refinery and typically operates around the clock except during turnaround periods.
It was reported that the plant employed 62 workers.[5]
2006 Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 5,393,977 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 15,207 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 7,468 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 87 lb.
2010: Proposed coal plant closures
On August 12, 2010, FirstEnergy announced it will throttle back power production at four of its smaller, coal-burning power plants, beginning in September and continuing for three-years. The company cited the lackluster economy, low demand for power, and pending federal rules tightening emission standards. The plants are the Lake Shore Plant in Cleveland, OH, all but the largest boiler at the Eastlake Power Plant in Lake County, OH, the Ashtabula Plant, and three of four boilers at the Bay Shore Plant near Toledo, OH. The largest Bay Shore unit, which burns petroleum coke from the nearby BP/Husky oil refinery, will continue operating. The four power plants have not been running flat out for some time; instead, the company has kept them in reserve, ramping up production as needed.
Altogether the power plants have a total generating capacity of 1,620 megawatts, they accounted for less than 7 percent of total production in 2009. One megawatt is 1 million watts and enough electricity to power about 800 homes. FirstEnergy said the slowdown will reduce operating costs but could force the company to write off $287 million in the value of its assets, reducing third quarter earnings by 59 cents per share.[6]
On January 26, 2012, FirstEnergy said it is permanently closing six of its coal plants by September 1, 2012: Bay Shore Plant, Units 2-4, in Oregon, Ohio; Eastlake Power Plant in Eastlake, Ohio; Ashtabula Plant in Ashtabula, Ohio; Lake Shore Plant in Cleveland, Ohio; Armstrong Power Station in Adrian, Pennsylvania; and the R. Paul Smith Power Station in Williamsport, Maryland. The plants had served mostly as peaking or intermediate facilities.[7]
In November 2020, Walleye Power, LLC sued former owner FirstEnergy for willful breach of contract and fraud.[8] Walleye alleges that FirstEnergy failed to disclose numerous maintenance and operations issues prior to the sale of the plant. These issues will require significant investment to remedy and may affect the ongoing operation of the facility.
2010: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Bay Shore Plant
In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants.[9] Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.[10]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Bay Shore Plant
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 35 | $260,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 57 | $6,200,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 560 | $29,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 26 | $610,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 21 | $9,400,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 31 | $12,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
2010: Plant Killing Fish
In early June 2010, Ohio environmental groups stated that the Bay Shore Plant along Maumee Bay is killing more fish than any other plant on the Great Lakes, costing Ohio $29.7 million annually. The Ohio Environmental Council, the Western Lake Erie Waterkeepers Association, Ohio Citizen Action and other groups are urging the Ohio EPA to make FirstEnergy, the owner of the plant, install cooling towers at the plant -- which touches the Maumee River on one side and the Maumee Bay on the other -- in order to reduce the fish kills from the thermal pollution from coal plants.[11]
According to the environmental groups, despite the mandate under the federal Clean Water Act that companies employ the best available technology to reduce their environmental impacts, the Ohio EPA issued a permit to FirstEnergy, allowing Bay Shore to "install a solution that Ohio EPA's own consultants have already shown to be less effective," according to NRDC. Ohio EPA's final Clean Water Act water pollution permit for Bayshore allows the facility to install a reverse louvered system that has been effectively outlawed in the states of New York and California. A coalition of environmental groups has filed a lawsuit challenging the permit, saying FirstEnergy can install water cooling towers that reduce fish losses by 95 percent.[12]
According to a May 2010 report by Ohio Citizen, "Economic Damages of Impingement and Entrainment of Fish, Fish Eggs, and Fish Larvae at the Bay Shore Power Plant", the damage to the economy because of the Bay Shore coal plant is estimated to be $29.7 million a year, which "did not include estimates of damage from other uses such as hunting or bird-watching, both of which also contribute to the state's economy."[12]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ Form EIA-860 Data - Schedule 3, 'Generator Data' US EIA, 2014
- ↑ "FirstEnergy to shut or sell last unit at Bay Shore," The Blade, July 23, 2016
- ↑ "Sale of Bay Shore Generating Facility Closes – FirstEnergy Retirees". www.feretirees.com. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
- ↑ "Detailed Facility Report - FIRSTENERGY BAY SHORE POWER PLANT," U.S. EPA ECHO, accessed September 16, 2024
- ↑ "Walleye Power, LLC Company Profile". Dun & Bradstreet. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ John Funk, "FirstEnergy Corp. to throttle back four smaller coal-fired power plants" Cleveland.com, August 12, 2010.
- ↑ "FirstEnergy, Citing Impact of Environmental Regulations, Will Retire Six Coal-Fired Power Plants" PR Newswire, Jan. 26, 2012.
- ↑ "Walleye Power, LLC v. Bay Shore Power Co., 69 Misc. 3d 1214 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
- ↑ "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
- ↑ "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool," Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010
- ↑ " Kristina Smith Horn, Port Clinton News Herald, June 3, 2010.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Rachel Cernansky, "Lawsuit Pressures Coal Plant to Stop Killing Millions of Fish in Lake Erie" Tree-hugger, Dec. 21, 2010.
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
