Brunner Island Steam Electric Station
Encyclopedia
Brunner Island Steam Electric Station is a coal-fired electrical generation facility in York County, Pennsylvania
. It occupies most of the area of the eponym
ous island on Susquehanna River
. The power plant has three major units, which came online in 1961, 1965, and 1969, with respective generating capacities of 334 MW, 390 MW, and 759 MW (in winter conditions). In addition, three internal combustion generators (2.8 MWe each) were installed in 1967.
, the owner of the plant, announced in 2005 that it would begin to install scrubbers at the plant and that installation would be complete by 2009. The scrubbers, PPL says, are intended to annually remove 100,000 tons of sulfur. The facility was cited as one of several facilities in the region by a USA Today study of air quality around area schools as a potential source of significant pollutants.
produced that year (93,545 tons of SO2 per year in total).
(about twice its electrical output) into its brand new cooling towers as of 2009.
York County, Pennsylvania
York County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 434,972. It is in the Susquehanna Valley, a large fertile agricultural region in South Central Pennsylvania....
. It occupies most of the area of the eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous island on Susquehanna River
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...
. The power plant has three major units, which came online in 1961, 1965, and 1969, with respective generating capacities of 334 MW, 390 MW, and 759 MW (in winter conditions). In addition, three internal combustion generators (2.8 MWe each) were installed in 1967.
Environmental impact
PPLPPL (utility)
PPL, formerly known as PP&L or Pennsylvania Power and Light, is an energy company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA. It currently controls about 19,000 megawatts of electrical generating capacity in the United States, primarily in Pennsylvania and Montana, and delivers electricity to...
, the owner of the plant, announced in 2005 that it would begin to install scrubbers at the plant and that installation would be complete by 2009. The scrubbers, PPL says, are intended to annually remove 100,000 tons of sulfur. The facility was cited as one of several facilities in the region by a USA Today study of air quality around area schools as a potential source of significant pollutants.
Sulphur dioxide emissions
In 2006, Brunner Island ranked 27th on the list of most-polluting major power station in the US in terms of sulphur dioxide gas emission rate: it discharged 20.49 pounds (9.3 kg) of SO2 for each MWh of electric powerElectric power
Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...
produced that year (93,545 tons of SO2 per year in total).
Waste heat
Brunner Island discharges all of its waste heatWaste heat
Waste heat sometimes called Secondary heat or Low-grade heat refers to heat produced by machines, electrical equipment and industrial processes for which no useful application is found. Energy is often produced by a heat engine, running on a source of high-temperature heat...
(about twice its electrical output) into its brand new cooling towers as of 2009.