Rock River Generating Station is an electrical

Electric 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...

 power station

Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....

 located north of Beloit, Wisconsin

Beloit, Wisconsin

Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2010 census, Beloit had a population of 36,966. The greater Beloit area is home to more than 91,000 residents.-Claim to fame:...

 in the town of Beloit

Beloit (town), Wisconsin

Beloit is a town in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,038 at the 2000 census. The City of Beloit is located partially within the town...

 at 827 (West Beloit Rock) W. B. R. Townline Road on the west bank of the Rock River

Rock River (Illinois)

The Rock River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Illinois. It rises in southeast Wisconsin, in the Theresa Marsh near Theresa, Wisconsin in northeast Dodge County, Wisconsin approximately south of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin...

. The facility is owned and operated by Wisconsin Power and Light, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alliant Energy

Alliant Energy

Alliant Energy Corporation is a public utility holding company that incorporated in Madison, Wisconsin in 1981. It consists of two subsidiaries:...

.

History

The facility opened in the early 1950s and consists of two at 969.6 mmBtu per hour (284.2 MW) Babcock and Wilcox

Babcock and Wilcox

The Babcock & Wilcox Company is a U.S.-based company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and facilities management services to nuclear, renewable, fossil power, industrial and government customers worldwide. B&W's boilers supply more than 300,000 megawatts of installed...

 cyclone boiler

Boiler

A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...

s each with one steam turbine

Steam turbine

A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....

. Originally designed to burn Illinois Basin bituminous coal

Bituminous coal

Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...

 supplied by rail car or barge, the site switched to natural gas or lower sulfur 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...

 coal. Additionally, a 30 MW combustion turbine was added in 1967 and two 50 MW combustion turbines were added between 1972 and 1977. As of 2000, the boilers were capable of operating on a variety of fuel sources, including natural gas, Powder River Basin coal, #2 fuel oil

Fuel oil

Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...

 and tire-derived fuel. Coal is has not been burned at the site since 2007 because the facility closed the landfill it had used for fly ash

Fly ash

Fly ash is one of the residues generated in combustion, and comprises the fine particles that rise with the flue gases. Ash which does not rise is termed bottom ash. In an industrial context, fly ash usually refers to ash produced during combustion of coal...

. Electricity is generated via steam turbines and process water is taken from the Rock River.

Adjacent facilities

An Alliant maintenance facility and Riverside Energy Center

Riverside Energy Center

Riverside Energy Center is an electrical power station located north of Beloit, Wisconsin in the town of Beloit at 1401 W B R Townline Road just west of the Rock River...

, a 603 MW combined cycle

Combined cycle

In electric power generation a combined cycle is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem off the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy, which in turn usually drives electrical generators...

 natural gas facility owned by Calpine

Calpine

Calpine Corporation is a Fortune 500 power company founded in 1984 in San Jose, California.Calpine's headquarters were permanently moved from San Jose to Houston, Texas in 2009. The company's stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CPN until it was delisted on December 5,...

, are located adjacent to the station.