Beesley's Point Generating Station
Encyclopedia
The Beesley's Point Generating Station, also called the B.L. England Generating Station, is a power plant in Upper Township
, Cape May County
, New Jersey
, United States
, on the Great Egg Harbor River
. The facility provides approximately 450 megawatts of generating capacity from three generating units. Two units burn coal (and up to 7 percent used tires) and the third unit burns bunker C oil. Its large smokestack, altered to resemble a lighthouse
, contains a sulfur dioxide
scrubber which removes the SO2 from the flue gas
and converts it into gypsum
, which can be sold. The scrubber allows the two coal units to use less expensive high sulfur coal from West Virginia
.
The plant is visible from the Great Egg Harbor Bridge
on the Garden State Parkway
, and many confuse it with the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station
and its hyperboloid
cooling tower
, which recirculates hot water to avoid discharging into Barnegat Bay
and causing thermal pollution
.
On August 17, 2006, Pepco Holdings
announced that its subsidiary, Atlantic City Electric Company, reached an agreement to sell the facility to RC Cape May Holdings, LLC, an affiliate of Rockland Capital Energy Investments, LLC for $12.2 million.
Upper Township, New Jersey
Upper Township is a large township in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. The township population was 12,115 as of the United States 2000 Census...
, Cape May County
Cape May County, New Jersey
-Climate:Being the southernmost point in New Jersey, Cape May has fairly mild wintertime temperatures. Contrary to that, the summertime has lower temperatures than most places in the state, making the county a popular place to escape the heat. It is in zone 7a/7b, which is the same as parts of...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, on the Great Egg Harbor River
Great Egg Harbor River
The Great Egg Harbor River is a river in southern New Jersey in the United States. It is one of the major rivers that traverse the largely pristine Pinelands, draining of wetlands into the Atlantic Ocean at Great Egg Harbor, from which it takes its name....
. The facility provides approximately 450 megawatts of generating capacity from three generating units. Two units burn coal (and up to 7 percent used tires) and the third unit burns bunker C oil. Its large smokestack, altered to resemble a lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
, contains a sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is released by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide unless the sulfur compounds are removed before burning the fuel...
scrubber which removes the SO2 from the flue gas
Flue gas
Flue gas is the gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue, which is a pipe or channel for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, oven, furnace, boiler or steam generator. Quite often, the flue gas refers to the combustion exhaust gas produced at power plants...
and converts it into gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
, which can be sold. The scrubber allows the two coal units to use less expensive high sulfur coal from West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
.
The plant is visible from the Great Egg Harbor Bridge
Great Egg Harbor Bridge
The Great Egg Harbor Bridge is a toll bridge along the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, with tolls collected in the southbound direction. It crosses the Great Egg Harbor Bay, connecting Upper Township, in Cape May County to Somers Point in Atlantic County...
on the Garden State Parkway
Garden State Parkway
The Garden State Parkway is a 172.4-mile limited-access toll parkway that stretches the length of New Jersey from the New York line at Montvale, New Jersey, to Cape May at New Jersey's southernmost tip. Its name refers to New Jersey's nickname, the "Garden State." Most New Jersey residents refer...
, and many confuse it with the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station
Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station
Oyster Creek nuclear power station is a single unit 636 MWe boiling water reactor power plant located on an 800 acre site adjacent to the Oyster Creek in the Forked River section of Lacey Township in Ocean County, New Jersey. The facility is currently owned and operated by Exelon Corporation and...
and its hyperboloid
Hyperboloid structure
Hyperboloid structures are architectural structures designed with hyperboloid geometry. Often these are tall structures such as towers where the hyperboloid geometry's structural strength is used to support an object high off the ground, but hyperboloid geometry is also often used for decorative...
cooling tower
Cooling tower
Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers rely...
, which recirculates hot water to avoid discharging into Barnegat Bay
Barnegat Bay
Barnegat Bay is a small brackish arm of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 30 miles long, along the coast of Ocean County, New Jersey in the United States. It is a long barrier peninsula, as well as by the north end of Long Beach Island...
and causing thermal pollution
Thermal pollution
Thermal pollution is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature.A common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers...
.
On August 17, 2006, Pepco Holdings
Pepco Holdings
Pepco Holdings, Inc. is a holding company incorporated in February of 2001 for the purpose of effecting the acquisition of Conectiv Power Delivery by Potomac Electric Power Company . The acquisition was completed on August 1, 2002 at which time Pepco and Conectiv became wholly owned subsidiaries...
announced that its subsidiary, Atlantic City Electric Company, reached an agreement to sell the facility to RC Cape May Holdings, LLC, an affiliate of Rockland Capital Energy Investments, LLC for $12.2 million.