Montour Steam Station
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Montour Steam Station is an operating power station of at least 3515-megawatts (MW) in Washingtonville, Montour, Pennsylvania, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Montour Steam Station | Washingtonville, Montour, Pennsylvania, United States | 41.069558, -76.665458 (exact)[1] |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1, Unit 2: 41.069558, -76.665458
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | CHP | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1, timepoint 1 | Operating | coal: bituminous | 864.9 | supercritical | no[2] | 1971 | 2025 (planned) |
| Unit 1, timepoint 2 | Operating[3][4] | fossil gas: natural gas[3] | 864.9[5] | steam turbine[5] | no[2] | 2023[3][2] | – |
| Unit 2, timepoint 1 | Operating | coal: bituminous | 893 | supercritical | no[2] | 1973 | 2025 (planned) |
| Unit 2, timepoint 2 | Operating[3][4] | fossil gas: natural gas[3] | 893[5] | steam turbine[5] | no[2] | 2023[3][2] | – |
CHP is an abbreviation for Combined Heat and Power. It is a technology that produces electricity and thermal energy at high efficiencies. Coal units track this information in the Captive Use section when known.
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1, timepoint 1 | TalenEnergy Montour LLC [100%][1][3] | Talen Energy Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 1, timepoint 2 | TalenEnergy Montour LLC [100%][1][3] | Talen Energy Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 2, timepoint 1 | TalenEnergy Montour LLC [100%][1][3] | Talen Energy Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 2, timepoint 2 | TalenEnergy Montour LLC [100%][1][3] | Talen Energy Corp [100.0%] |
Unit-level fuel conversion details:
Unit 1: Converted from coal to fossil gas in 2023.
Unit 2: Converted from coal to fossil gas in 2023.
Ownership
The plant was owned by PPL. On June 10, 2014, PPL announced that it would spin off its competitive energy business which would merge with Riverstone Holdings' operations to create Talen Energy.[6] Talen Energy launched on June 1, 2015.[7]
Background
In 2016 plant owner Talen Energy planned to modify the plant to also burn natural gas, but later put a hold on the plans, saying it wanted to first evaluate the use of both gas and coal at its Brunner Island Power Station.[8]
Conversion to Gas
In November of 2020, Talen Energy committed to ceasing coal burning at the plant and converting it to gas by the end of 2025.[9] As of June 2023, the conversion plans were still in effect according to the media.[10] In August 2023, Montour completed its gas fuel conversion. Units 1 and 2 are now dispatchable on either coal or gas. Permanent retirement of coal at Montour is required by the end of 2025, with an earlier retirement at the company's election.[11] Form EIA-860M, released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration in May 2024, lists gas as the fuel used by the power station.[12]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 9,877,806 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 129,357 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 13,674 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 312 lb.
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Montour 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.[13] 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.[14]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Montour Steam Station
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 34 | $250,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 59 | $6,400,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 530 | $28,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 27 | $620,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 20 | $9,.000,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 22 | $8,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed March 2011
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 https://web.archive.org/web/20230509053328/https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m/. Archived from the original on 09 May 2023.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|archive-date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 https://web.archive.org/web/20220712171434/https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m/xls/april_generator2022.xlsx. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 https://web.archive.org/web/20230101113855/https://www.dailyitem.com/the_danville_news/talen-moving-toward-converting-montour-plant-to-gas/article_60202c00-847c-11ec-b584-ef9d9ef88809.html. Archived from the original on 01 January 2023.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|archive-date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20230614235114/http://www.eenews.net/articles/pa-coal-plants-keep-closing-does-the-state-need-carbon-trading/. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 https://web.archive.org/web/20230918190319/https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m/archive/xls/may_generator2023.xlsx. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ "PPL Corp. to Spin off Units, Form New Co. with Riverstone". Zacks Equity Research. June 10, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
- ↑ The Morning Call Staff (April 29, 2015). "Talen Energy to launch June 1". The Morning Call. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
- ↑ "Talen Energy delays coal-conversion plan at Montour generating plant" PennLive, Dec 5, 2016
- ↑ "Talen moving toward converting Montour Plant to gas". The Daily Item. February 2, 20122. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Pa. coal plants keep closing. Does the state need carbon trading?". E&E News. June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Talen Energy Corporation Consolidated Financial Statements" (PDF). Talen Energy Investors. December 31, 2023. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (based on Form EIA-860M as a supplement to Form EIA-860)". EIA. May 23, 2024. Retrieved Jube 10, 2024.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "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
Additional data
To access additional data, including interactive maps of the power stations, downloadable datasets, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker and the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
