Chalk Point Generating Station
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The Chalk Point Generating Station is a 2,415 MW electric generating plant owned by Mirant Services LLC which is located near the unincorporated town of Eagle Harbor, Maryland, on the Patuxent River. The facility consists several units. Units 1 and 2 are coal-fired dry-bottom, wall-fired steam generating plants with a combined capacity of 1,224 MW. Units 3 and 4 are oil/gas fired units with a combined capacity of 1,224 MW. The site also contains six combustion turbines owned and operated by Mirant and a seventh turbine rated at 77 MW which is owned by the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative. The combined capacity of all seven combustion turbines is 508 MW.[1] The SMECO turbine, which entered service in 1990, is operated by Mirant under an agreement which expires in 2015.[2]
Coal is delivered to the Chalk Point generating station by CSX Transportation train using the Herbert Subdivision rail line.
All of the Mirant generating plants at the Chalk Point Generating Station were built by the Potomac Electric Power Company, which sold them to the Southern Company in December 2000 as a result of the restructuring of the electricity generating industry in Maryland. The station was included in the Mirant spin-off in April 2001.
The Chalk Point Generating Station is dispatched by the PJM Interconnection regional transmission organization.
[edit] Environment
Chalk Point is the leading polluter in Prince George's County, Maryland, according to pollution research site Scorecard.org. It produced 5,275,502 pounds of pollution in 2002. The second largest polluter, the USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, produced 79,548 pounds in 2002.
[edit] References
- ^ Environmental Review of the Air Pollution Control Project at the Chalk Point Generating Station by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (Apr. 2, 2007), Maryland Public Service Commission Case No. 9086 docket
- ^ 2006 Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative Annual Report, p. 19
