The Keystone Generating Station is a 1,711 MW baseload coal-fired power plant located on roughly 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) at , in Plumcreek Township, southeastern Armstrong County, Pennsylvania near Crooked Creek, just west of Shelocta, Pennsylvania.
The facility consists of two steam turbines, which began commercial operation in 1967 and 1968,[1] and four cooling towers.
The main turbines run on steam produced by twin 850 MW boilers, each as tall as a 14-story building. The plant uses in excess of 4 million tons of coal a year. The plant ranks among the best in the US in terms of availability among coal plants of the same size.
Each unit is a Westinghouse cross-compound dual steam turbine-generator operating at supercritical steam conditions. At the time Keystone was constructed, Units 1 and 2 were the largest generating units in the world. Keystone was the first plant to be constructed away from a significant source of cooling water. The Keystone Reservoir was constructed on the North Branch of Plum Creek, a tributary of Crooked Creek to provide a constant source of cooling water for the plant's thermodynamic cycle year round. The cooling tower system at Keystone marks one of the most significant of early environmental controls on large power plants in the United States (thermal pollution of waterways was one of the first types of pollution to experience significant controls).
Since the plant's initial commissioning, several environmental control systems have either been upgraded or installed. These include modifications to the electrostatic precipitators, the addition of an ammonia flue gas conditioning system to improve precipitator performance, and a low/NOx burner system to reduce the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions. A Selective Catalytic Reactor (SCR) further reduces the NOx emissions. In 2009 a wet flue-gas desulfurization system was put in place to reduce sulfur dioxide and heavy metal emissions. The plant has a continuous emissions monitoring system in the stack which must adhere to very rigid accuracy and reliability requirements established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
A consortium of mid-atlantic power companies owns the plant. PSEG Fossil owns a 22.84 percent share (391 net MW with peaker), while Reliant Resources, operates it. The plant is basically a twin of the Conemaugh Generating Station, also partially owned by PSEG Fossil.
Key Facts: Location: Shelocta, PA MW: 1,711 Fuel: Coal Commercial Operation: Unit 1: 1967, Unit 2: 1968 Ownership: 22.84% PSEG Fossil
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Keystone uses modern emissions management technologies to greatly reduce the station's environmental impact. The wet limestone scrubber system put into operation in late 2009 removes heavy metals and sulfur dioxide from the flue gas.