St. Clair Power Plant
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St. Clair Power Plant is a retired power station in Belle River, St Clair, Michigan, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| St. Clair Power Plant | Belle River, St Clair, Michigan, United States | 42.764161, -82.471553 (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 6, Unit 7: 42.764161, -82.471553
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 168.7 | subcritical | 1953 | 2019 |
| Unit 2 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 156.2 | subcritical | 1953 | 2022 |
| Unit 3 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 156.2 | subcritical | 1954 | 2022 |
| Unit 4 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 168.7 | subcritical | 1954 | 2017 |
| Unit 6 | retired | coal: subbituminous | 352.7 | subcritical | 1961 | 2022 |
| Unit 7 | retired | coal: bituminous | 544.5 | subcritical | 1969 | 2022 |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | DTE Electric Co [100%] | DTE Electric Co [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | DTE Electric Co [100%] | DTE Electric Co [100.0%] |
| Unit 3 | DTE Electric Co [100%] | DTE Electric Co [100.0%] |
| Unit 4 | DTE Electric Co [100%] | DTE Electric Co [100.0%] |
| Unit 6 | DTE Electric Co [100%] | DTE Electric Co [100.0%] |
| Unit 7 | DTE Electric Co [100%] | DTE Electric Co [100.0%] |
Unit Retirements
The plant lacks modern pollution controls, and is located in an area of Michigan that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated as “failing to meet federal air quality standards” for sulfur dioxide in January 2016. After a public pressure campaign, DTE said the full plant will be retired between 2020 and 2023.[1][2][3]
Unit 5 its cyclone boiler was taken out of service in 1979 due to a mechanical problem with the boiler. The stack for unit five was removed in 2012.
Unit 4 retired early, in 2017, due to mechanical problems.
Unit 1 was retired in March 2019.[4]
The entire plant was retired in May 2022.[5]
Background
On August 11, 2016 a fire broke out, damaging the plant.[6]
Coal Supply
St. Clair Power Plant uses a shared coal facility with the the Belle River Power Plant located just to the west of their location. In the EIA 923 database their shared coal facility is stated as BRSC Shared Storage (plant id 8841), a abbreviation for Belle River Saint Clair Shared Storage. Both power plants also have their own seperate coal storage that would allow delivert directly from coal suppliers.[7]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 7,818,581 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 42,374 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 9,907 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 266 lb.
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from St. Clair Power 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 St. Clair Power Plant
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 110 | $800,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 180 | $19,000,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 1,700 | $89,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 81 | $1,900,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 65 | $29,000,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 90 | $33,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ "DTE Announces Plans to Retire River Rouge, Trenton Channel, and St. Clair Coal-Fired Power Plants," Sierra Club, June 8, 2016
- ↑ "DTE Plans To Shut Down 8 Coal-Fired Units At 3 Plants," CBS Detroit, June 8, 2016
- ↑ "DTE Energy speeds up closing of coal-fired plants," Detroit News, March 28, 2019
- ↑ "Dominion retirements dominate March US generating capacity changes," SP Global, May 2, 2019
- ↑ Smith, Jackie (June 5, 2022). "'It's my home' Workers bid farewell to coal-fired plant". Port Huron Times Herald.
- ↑ Shepard, Liz (August 15, 2016). "45 agencies responded to power plant blaze". Times-Herald. Port Huron, Michigan. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
- ↑ "EIA 923 July 2020" EIA 923 July 2020.
- ↑ "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 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.
