| Rock River Generating Station | |
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| Country | United States |
| Location | Town of Beloit, Wisconsin |
| Coordinates | |
| Commission date | Unit 1 1952 Unit 2 1953 |
| Owner(s) | Wisconsin Power and Light |
| Power station information | |
| Primary fuel | Natural gas, originally coal |
| Generation units | 2 |
| Combined cycle? | no |
Rock River Generating Station is an electrical power station located north of Beloit, Wisconsin in the town of Beloit at 827 (West Beloit Rock) W. B. R. Townline Road on the west bank of the Rock River. The facility is owned and operated by Wisconsin Power and Light, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alliant Energy.
Contents |
The facility opened in the early 1950s and consists of two at 969.6 mmBtu per hour (284.2 MW) Babcock and Wilcox cyclone boilers each with one steam turbine. Originally designed to burn Illinois Basin bituminous coal supplied by rail car or barge, the site switched to natural gas or lower sulfur Powder River 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 and tire-derived fuel.[1] Coal is has not been burned at the site since 2007 because the facility closed the landfill it had used for fly ash.[2] Electricity is generated via steam turbines and process water is taken from the Rock River.
An Alliant maintenance facility and Riverside Energy Center, a 603 MW combined cycle natural gas facility owned by Calpine, are located adjacent to the station.[3][4][5]