Robert W Scherer Power Plant is a coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

-fired power plant at Juliette, Georgia

Juliette, Georgia

Juliette is an unincorporated community in Monroe County, Georgia, United States. Named for Juliette McCracken, daughter of a railroad engineer, the town formed with the merging of Brownsville and Iceberg. The film Fried Green Tomatoes was filmed there, and the town has been the focal point of two...

, just north of Macon, Georgia

Macon, Georgia

Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...

. The plant has four units, each producing 880 megawatts. It has two 1001 feet (305 m) chimneys, the first built in 1982 and the second in 1986. Plant Scherer is the fifth largest electric generating plant in the United States.

The plant's location is along the flight path of many commercial airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

 flights originating from or terminating at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport , known locally as Atlanta Airport, Hartsfield Airport, and Hartsfield–Jackson, is located seven miles south of the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States...

 in Atlanta

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

, and is a prominent feature on the landscape, easily visible during daylight flights.

Operator and ownership

Georgia Power

Georgia Power

Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the largest of the four electric utilities that are owned and operated by Southern Company....

 operates the plant, which is jointly owned by itself; sister company Gulf Power

Gulf Power

Gulf Power Company is a U.S. investor-owned electric utility with all of its common stock owned by Atlanta based Southern Company. Gulf Power Company is headquartered in Pensacola, Florida, and has a service territory that spans , through 10 counties and 71 towns in northwest Florida...

; the city of Dalton, Georgia

Dalton, Georgia

Dalton is a city in Whitfield County, Georgia, United States. It is the county seat of Whitfield County and the principal city of the Dalton, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of both Murray and Whitfield counties. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 33,128...

; Florida Power & Light

Florida Power & Light

Florida Power & Light Company, the principal subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. , commonly referred to by its initials, FPL, is a Juno Beach, Florida-based power utility which serves roughly 4.4 million customers in Florida. FPL Group holds power generation assets in more than 20 U.S...

; JEA

JEA

JEA , located in Jacksonville, Florida, is the eighth largest community-owned electric utility company in the United States and largest in Florida. As of 2009, JEA serves more than 417,000 electric customers, 305,000 water customers and 230,000 sewer customers. Besides Jacksonville , JEA also has...

 of Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

; Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG), and Oglethorpe Power

Oglethorpe Power

Oglethorpe Power Corporation medium-sized electric utility in Georgia, United States. Formed in 1974, Ogelthorpe is a not-for-profit cooperative owned by the 39 electric membership corporations that it serves. The utility's headquarters are in Tucker, Georgia. It is the largest power supply...

.

	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4
OPC Oglethorpe Power Oglethorpe Power Corporation medium-sized electric utility in Georgia, United States. Formed in 1974, Ogelthorpe is a not-for-profit cooperative owned by the 39 electric membership corporations that it serves. The utility's headquarters are in Tucker, Georgia. It is the largest power supply...	60.0%	60.0%	—	—
Georgia Power Georgia Power Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the largest of the four electric utilities that are owned and operated by Southern Company....	8.4%	8.4%	75.0%	—
FPL Florida Power & Light Florida Power & Light Company, the principal subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. , commonly referred to by its initials, FPL, is a Juno Beach, Florida-based power utility which serves roughly 4.4 million customers in Florida. FPL Group holds power generation assets in more than 20 U.S...	—	—	—	76.4%
MEAG	30.2%	30.2%	—	—
Gulf Power Gulf Power Gulf Power Company is a U.S. investor-owned electric utility with all of its common stock owned by Atlanta based Southern Company. Gulf Power Company is headquartered in Pensacola, Florida, and has a service territory that spans , through 10 counties and 71 towns in northwest Florida...	—	—	25.0%	—
JEA JEA JEA , located in Jacksonville, Florida, is the eighth largest community-owned electric utility company in the United States and largest in Florida. As of 2009, JEA serves more than 417,000 electric customers, 305,000 water customers and 230,000 sewer customers. Besides Jacksonville , JEA also has...	—	—	—	23.6%
City of Dalton Dalton, Georgia Dalton is a city in Whitfield County, Georgia, United States. It is the county seat of Whitfield County and the principal city of the Dalton, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of both Murray and Whitfield counties. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 33,128...	1.4%	1.4%	—	—

Coal trains

The coal used at the Scherer plant comes from Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

's Powder River Basin

Powder River Basin

The Powder River Basin is a geologic region in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its coal deposits. The region supplies about 40 percent of coal in the United States. It is both a topographic drainage and geologic structural basin...

, and is delivered by BNSF from the mine to Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

. From there, it is taken to the plant by Norfolk Southern in unit train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

s of up to 124 cars. Currently, at least three and as many as five trains a day are unloaded at Scherer. The trains use an air-dump system and are unloaded from the bottom of the cars while passing over the unloading trestle. They do not stop while unloading, and are usually unloaded in around 90 minutes.

Global warming

According to Natural History

Natural History (magazine)

Natural History is an American natural history magazine. The stated mission of the magazine is to promote public understanding and appreciation of nature and science.- History :...

magazine, Plant Scherer is the largest single point-source for carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

 emission

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...

s in the United States. It was also ranked the 20th in the world in terms of carbon dioxide emissions by the Center for Global Development

Center for Global Development

The Center for Global Development is a non-profit think tank based in Washington, D.C. that focuses on international development. It was founded in November 2001 by former senior U.S. official Edward W. Scott, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, C. Fred Bergsten, and...

on its list of global power plants in November 2007. It was the only power plant in the United States that was listed in the world's top 25 Carbon Dioxide producers.

External links

• http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b5480
• http://www.georgiapower.com/about/pdf/Plant%20Sherer%20Brochure.pdf
• MEAG Power website