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Hammond Steam Generating Station is a retired power station in Coosa, Floyd, Georgia, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Hammond Steam Generating Station | Coosa, Floyd, Georgia, United States | 34.253108, -85.345214 (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: 34.253108, -85.345214
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | retired | coal: bituminous | 125 | subcritical | 1954 | 2019 |
| Unit 2 | retired | coal: bituminous | 125 | subcritical | 1954 | 2019 |
| Unit 3 | retired | coal: bituminous | 125 | subcritical | 1955 | 2019 |
| Unit 4 | retired | coal: bituminous | 578 | subcritical | 1970 | 2019 |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Georgia Power Co [100%] | Southern Co [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Georgia Power Co [100%] | Southern Co [100.0%] |
| Unit 3 | Georgia Power Co [100%] | Southern Co [100.0%] |
| Unit 4 | Georgia Power Co [100%] | Southern Co [100.0%] |
Retirement
In February 2019 it was reported that if the Georgia Public Service Commission approved Georgia Power’s plan, Plant Hammond would be taken out of service, possibly as soon as August 2019.[1] The plant had averaged only a 16 percent capacity factor since the beginning of 2012.[2]
The plant was officially decommissioned after the Georgia Public Service Commission voted on July 16, 2019 to shut the plant down.[3]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 4,509,401 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 40,579 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 5,783 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 164 lb.
Costs
According to a report on the plant by IEEFA (2015), the plant has grown increasingly expensive for ratepayers, due to both its old age and its declining use since 2007 from the increased use of natural gas in the region. The plant has averaged only a 16 percent capacity factor since the beginning of 2012. Meanwhile, the annual per-megawatt-hour (MWh) costs of generating power at Plant Hammond have increased by about two-thirds since 2010.[4]
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Hammond Steam Generating Station
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.[5] 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.[6]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Hammond Steam Generating Station
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 82 | $600,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 120 | $12,000,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 1,400 | $72,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 58 | $1,400,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 50 | $22,000,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 83 | $31,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Hammond ranked 43rd 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.[7] The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.[8]
Hammond Steam Generating Station ranked number 43 on the list, with 849,068 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.[7]
In November 2023, Georgia state regulators approved a plan by Georgia Power to leave coal ash at the Hammond Steam Generating Station in contact with groundwater. More than 1 million tons of coal ash sit in an unlined pit at the site, near the Coosa River. Environmental groups were calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to override the decision.[9]
Legislative issues
House Bill 276, proposed by Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur), would put a 5-year moratorium on building new coal plants and eliminate the burning of Appalachian coal mined by mountaintop removal by mid-2016. The Appalachian Mountain Preservation Act would gradually prohibit Georgia coal consumers from using Central Appalachian mountaintop removal beginning in 2011. The bill is backed by environmental groups including Appalachian Voices but received strong opposition from POWER4Georgians, a coalition of 10 electric co-operatives seeking to build a $2 billion 850-megawatt supercritical coal plant in Washington County.[10][11]
Citizen groups
- CleanPower4Georgians
- Fall-line Alliance for Clean Environment
- Focus the Nation
- Friends of the Chattahoochee
- GreenLaw
- Sierra Club Georgia Chapter
- Co-op Conversations Georgia
- Cobb Alliance for Smart Energy
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ "Hammond closure would be immediate following PSC approval," Northwest Georgia News, Feb 9, 2019
- ↑ "Georgia Power’s Aging Plant Hammond Should Be Retired," IEEFA, November 2015
- ↑ "Hammond is officially shut down," MJD, July 17, 2019
- ↑ "Georgia Power’s Aging Plant Hammond Should Be Retired," IEEFA, November 2015
- ↑ "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
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 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.
- ↑ "Environmental groups call for federal action after regulators OK Georgia Power coal ash permit," Georgia Recorder, November 18, 2023
- ↑ "Georgia bill proposes moratorium on new coal plants," Reuters, February 4, 2009.
- ↑ Margaret Newkirk, "Bill would restrict coal power plants," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 4, 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.
