Joppa Steam Plant
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Joppa Steam Plant is a retired power station in Joppa, Massac, Illinois, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Joppa Steam Plant | Joppa, Massac, Illinois, United States | 37.209414, -88.858164 (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, Unit 5, Unit 6: 37.209414, -88.858164
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 183.3 | subcritical | 1953 | 2022 |
| Unit 2 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 183.3 | subcritical | 1953 | 2022 |
| Unit 3 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 183.3 | subcritical | 1954 | 2022 |
| Unit 4 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 183.3 | subcritical | 1954 | 2022 |
| Unit 5 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 183.3 | subcritical | 1955 | 2022 |
| Unit 6 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 183.3 | subcritical | 1955 | 2022 |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Kentucky Utilities Co [20%]; Illinois Power Generating Co [80%] | Vistra Corp [80.0%]; PPL Corp [20.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Kentucky Utilities Co [20%]; Illinois Power Generating Co [80%] | Vistra Corp [80.0%]; PPL Corp [20.0%] |
| Unit 3 | Kentucky Utilities Co [20%]; Illinois Power Generating Co [80%] | Vistra Corp [80.0%]; PPL Corp [20.0%] |
| Unit 4 | Kentucky Utilities Co [20%]; Illinois Power Generating Co [80%] | Vistra Corp [80.0%]; PPL Corp [20.0%] |
| Unit 5 | Kentucky Utilities Co [20%]; Illinois Power Generating Co [80%] | Vistra Corp [80.0%]; PPL Corp [20.0%] |
| Unit 6 | Kentucky Utilities Co [20%]; Illinois Power Generating Co [80%] | Vistra Corp [80.0%]; PPL Corp [20.0%] |
Unit Retirement
In September 2020, plant owner Vistra Energy said the Joppa power station would fully retire by the end of 2025.[1][2]
On April 6 2021, PR Newswire reported that the Joppa Power plant will close in 2022, 3 years earlier then previously reported.[3] The plant closed down on schedule after 70 years of operation in September 2022.[4] The facility is expected to be demolished and the site repurposed into a battery storage facility with the possibility of adding solar generation.
Plant ownership
The plant was owned by Ameren, an Illinois power company. In mid-March 2013, Dynegy purchased three electric generating subsidiaries and five coal plants from Ameren, including Joppa Station.[5][6]
On April 9, 2018, Texas-based Vistra Energy, the parent company for TXU Energy and Luminant, announced it had completed its merger with Dynegy. Vistra Energy will be the name of the combined company moving forward.[7]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 9,318,296 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 26,408 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 5,705 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 355 lb.
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Joppa Steam 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.[8] 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.[9]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Joppa Steam Plant
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 40 | $290,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 61 | $6,700,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 670 | $35,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 28 | $670,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 24 | $11,000,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 42 | $15,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed March 2011
Joppa ranked 75th on list of most polluting power plants in terms of coal waste
In January 2009, Sue Sturgis of the Institute of Southern Studies compiled a list of the 100 most polluting coal plants in the United States in terms of coal combustion waste (CCW) stored in surface impoundments like the one involved in the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill.[10] The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.[11]
Joppa Steam Plant ranked number 75 on the list, with 366,675 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.[10]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ "Sierra Club Calls for State Transition Planning as Vistra Announces Coal Retirements in Illinois, Ohio". Sierra Club. 2020-09-29. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
- ↑ "Vistra to retire 6.8 GW coal, blaming 'irreparably dysfunctional MISO market" Utilitydive.com, September 30, 2020
- ↑ "Joppa Power Plant to Close in 2022 as Company Transitions to a Cleaner Future" prnewswire.com, April 6, 2021
- ↑ "After nearly 70 years of service, power plant in Joppa, Illinois, closes down". WPSD Local 6. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
- ↑ Boshart, Glen. "Dynegy Bid to Buy Ameren's Merchant Plants Makes Its Way to FERC." SNL Power Daily with Market Report. April 18, 2013.
- ↑ Yeagle, Patrick. "Shell Game." Illinois Times. September 19, 2013
- ↑ "Vistra / Dynegy Merger," Vistra Energy website, accessed August 2018
- ↑ "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
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Sue Sturgis, "Coal's ticking timebomb: Could disaster strike a coal ash dump near you?," Institute for Southern Studies, January 4, 2009.
- ↑ TRI Explorer, EPA, accessed January 2009.
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.
