Cardinal Power Plant
| Cardinal Power Plant | |
|---|---|
 Cardinal Power Plant viewed from Ohio State Route 7 | |
 | |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Wells Township, Jefferson County, near Brilliant, Ohio |
| Coordinates | 40°15′8″N 80°38′54″W / 40.25222°N 80.64833°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | Units 1–2: 1967 Unit 3: 1977 |
| Owners | AEP Generation Resources (Unit 1) Buckeye Power (Units 2–3) |
| Operator | Buckeye Power |
| Thermal power station | |
| Primary fuel | Coal |
| Cooling source | Ohio River |
| Power generation | |
| Nameplate capacity | 1,800 MW |
| External links | |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
Cardinal Power Plant is a 1.8-gigawatt (1,800 MW) coal power plant located south of Brilliant, Ohio, in Jefferson County, Ohio. The power plant has three units. Cardinal is co-owned with Unit 1 owned by American Electric Power's (AEP) subsidiary, AEP Generation Resources. Units 2–3 are owned by Buckeye Power, a utility cooperative. It began operations in 1967.
History
[edit]Construction of Cardinal started in November 1963. The project was a joint venture of Ohio Power (a forerunner of AEP) and Buckeye Power. Buckeye Power obtained loans from the Rural Electric Administration and financing through Kuhn, Loeb & Co. and the Ohio Company.[1] Cardinal was built adjacent to Ohio Power's Tidd Plant. The plant is named after the State Bird of Ohio, the cardinal.[2] Units 1 and 2 began commercial generation in 1967 at a cost of $131 million.[3] Unit 3 began generation in 1977 after six years of construction at a cost of $220 million.[4][5] In 2017, AEP and Buckeye Power reached an agreement for Buckeye Power to operate all three units at Cardinal.[6]
Environmental mitigation
[edit]To further reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, AEP and Buckeye Power announced in 2001 they would install selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems to complement their LO-NOx burners at Cardinal. The SCRs would decrease NOx emissions at the plant from 30% to 90%.[7] Between 2005 and 2010, flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) equipment were installed to all three units at Cardinal with Units 1 and 2 costing $300 million to construct. The FGD equipment would reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions by 98%.[8] A year after it was installed, inspectors found severe corrosion in its tank vessel. AEP negotiated a settlement with Black & Veatch, the contractor who installed the FGD equipment, to address the corrosion.[9] Instead of constructing a new chimney for Unit 3's FGD system, AEP retrofitted a cooling tower to release waste heat into the atmosphere.[10] AEP announced in 2015 that its Cardinal unit will be converted into a natural gas power plant by 2030 in order to comply with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards.[11] The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) approved of the conversion.[12]
Incidents
[edit]During construction in June 1965, three workers were killed when a pump casing fell into a well.[13]
An explosion killed one worker and injured four in June 1984.[14]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ Woerdeman, Joe (March 28, 1964). "Cardinal Power Plant Will Be One of Largest". Dover Daily Reporter. p. 24. Retrieved April 7, 2018 – via newspaperarchive.com/.
- ^ Brown, Jim (November 7, 1964). "New Power Plant Right on Schedule". The Steubenville Herald-Star. p. 11. Retrieved April 7, 2018 – via newspaperarchive.com/.
- ^ "27 Ohio REA Cooperatives Acquire Generating Plant". Defiance Crescent-News. July 8, 1968. p. 10. Retrieved April 7, 2018 – via newspaperarchive.com/.
- ^ "Unit Dedicated". The Steubenville Herald-Star. December 2, 1977. p. 1. Retrieved April 7, 2018 – via newspaperarchive.com/.
- ^ "More Power". The Steubenville Herald-Star. March 4, 1975. p. 23. Retrieved April 7, 2018 – via newspaperarchive.com/.
- ^ Higgins, Patrick (December 17, 2017). "Buckeye Power, AEP reach new operating agreement for Ohio plants". Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- ^ "AEP, Buckeye Power to construct emission control systems at Cardinal Plant". Power Engineering. August 2, 2001. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- ^ "Scrubber system allows use of Ohio coal". The Times Reporter. January 16, 2008. Retrieved April 8, 2018 – via newsbank.com/.
- ^ Hunt, Spencer (July 11, 2011). "Failing Pollution Scrubbers - 'Aggressive' decay eats at power plants". The Columbus Dispatch. p. 1A. Retrieved June 26, 2018 – via newsbank.com/.
- ^ Hammer, Rachel (February 1, 2012). "Another first: AEP introduces flue gas venting technology in the U.S." AEP. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- ^ "AEP Cardinal Plant in Brilliant Will Be Converted to Gas". Wheeling Intelligencer. December 16, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- ^ Junkins, Casey (November 10, 2016). "Plan to Switch Cardinal Plant in Brilliant to Natural Gas is Approved". Wheeling Intelligencer. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- ^ "3 Die, 3 Hurt in Plant Accident". The Steubenville Herald-Star. June 23, 1965. p. 1. Retrieved April 7, 2018 – via newspaperarchive.com/.
- ^ "Cadiz man dies of blast injuries". The Plain Dealer. June 24, 1984. p. 25-A. Retrieved April 8, 2018 – via newsbank.com/.
External links
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