Oak Grove Plant
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Oak Grove Plant is an operating power station of at least 1795-megawatts (MW) in Franklin, Robertson, Texas, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Oak Grove Plant | Franklin, Robertson, Texas, United States | 31.1812611, -96.4889611 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1: 31.1812611, -96.4889611
- Unit 2: 31.1769496, -96.4904195
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | operating | coal: lignite | 916.8 | supercritical | 2010 |
| Unit 2 | operating | coal: lignite | 878.6 | supercritical | 2011 |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Luminant Generation Company LLC [100%] | Vistra Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Luminant Generation Company LLC [100%] | Vistra Corp [100.0%] |
Citizen Groups
- Stop the Coal Plant
- Sustainable Energy & Economic Development Coalition, Karen Hadden, karen [at] seedcoalition.org
- Texas Sierra Club, Neil Carman, neil_carman [at] greenbuilder.com
- Texas Public Citizen, jcarraway [at] citizen.org
Background
In Aug. 2006, state administrative judges recommended denial of Oak Grove's permit based on doubts about the adequacy of pollution controls,[1] but the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (whose three-member decision-making body was appointed solely by Gov. Perry, a long-time TXU campaign-cash beneficiary) approved the plants on June 13, 2007.[2] Fluor was awarded notice to proceed with construction on June 21.[3]
On July 21, 2008, the Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled to uphold the District Court's decision denying CleanCOALition and Robertson County: Our Lands, Our Lives' air permit challenge. The environmental groups argued that the permit violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) because it failed to adequately include a Best Available Control Technology (BACT) analysis. The final air permit for the plant is now being appealed.[4]
As of October 2009, Oak Grove unit 1 was scheduled for completion by the end of the year, and unit 2 was expected to be complete in mid-2010.[5]
On December 28, 2009, Luminant announced that it had put the first of the two new units online.[6] As of June, 2010, both units were operational.[7] According to the US EIA, the plants officially began operating in 2010-2011.[8]
Employment
A 2011 Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies report, "A Fraction of the Jobs" found that coal-fired power plants underestimate jobs by more than half. The analysis looked at the six largest new coal-fired power plants to come online between 2005 and 2009, including Oak Grove Plant, and combed through each project’s initial proposals and job projection data, including public statements, published documents and other material. They then compared hat data to actual employment — before, during and after construction — in the areas where the projects were built, relying chiefly on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.[9]
They found that only a little over half - or 56 percent - of every 1,000 jobs projected, appeared to be actually created as a result of the coal plants’ coming online. In four of the six counties, the projects delivered on just over a quarter of the jobs projected. Only one county, the Walter Scott unit number 4 project in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, saw an increase in construction employment that was roughly commensurate with the numbers predicted before the project there got under way.[9]
Construction Employment Change in Counties with New Coal Plants
| Plant | County | Total Projected Employment | Actual County Construction Employment Change (Peak) | Actual Change as % of Projection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandow Unit 5 | Milam | 1,370 | 463 | 33.7% |
| Nebraska City Station Unit 2 | Otoe | N/A | -73 | N/A |
| Weston Unit 4 | Marathon | 1,200 | 429 | 35.7% |
| Council Bluffs Energy Center Unit 4 | Pottawattamie | 1,000 | 2,407 | 240.7% |
| Cross 3 & 4 | Berkeley | 1,400 | 509 | 36.3% |
| Oak Grove Units 1 & 2 | Robertson | 2,400 | 329 | 13.7% |
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ TXU's Oak Grove Plant Hits Stump in Permitting Process, Waco Tribune-Herald, August 24, 2006.
- ↑ Power Plant Pollution Battle Still On, Austin Chronicle, June 15, 2007.
- ↑ Fluor Awarded Full Notice to Proceed for TXU's Oak Grove Project, Fluor Corporation press release, June 21, 2007.
- ↑ "Stopping the Coal Rush", Sierra Club, accessed January 2008. (This is a Sierra Club list of new coal plant proposals.)
- ↑ "Coal plant construction continues in earnest at some sites," SNL Interactive, October 5, 2009. (Subscription required.)
- ↑ "Work Finished On New Coal-Fired Central Texas Power Plant Unit," KWTX, December 28, 2009.
- ↑ "Stopping the Coal Rush", Sierra Club, accessed January 2011. (This is a Sierra Club list of new coal plant proposals.)
- ↑ Form EIA-860 Data - Schedule 3, Generator Data, US EIA, 2014
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Tom Zeller, "Coal, Jobs and America’s Energy Future" NY Times, March 31, 2011.
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.
