Edge Moor Power Plant

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Edge Moor Power - Hay Road Power Complex near Wilmington, Delaware consists of four Edge Moor units totaling 720 megawatts (MW) powered by coal, natural gas and #6 fuel oil and eight Hay Road combustion turbine units totaling 1,082 MW powered by natural gas and low sulfur diesel.

On April 21, 2010, Pepco Holdings, Inc. (PHI) sold the generation assets owned by Conectiv Energy to Calpine Corporation, an electric generation company based in Houston, Texas. The sale consisted of the Conectiv Energy power generation assets for $1.65 billion plus the value of the fuel inventory at closing, which was roughly $50 million. The sale closed June 30, 2010.

On July 1, 2010, Edge Moor and Pepco Holdings' Deepwater Generating Station began burning natural gas exclusively. All coal power will be discontinued.

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Project Details and History

Edge Moor Energy Center The first two units at Edge Moor Power Plant were completed in 1951, and have since been retired. Currently in operation are units 3, 4, 5 and 10. Unit 3 began commercial operation in 1954; Unit 10 in 1963; Unit 4 in 1966; and Unit 5 in 1973.

Unit	Name Plate Capacity
Edge Moor 3	75 MW
Edge Moor 4	176.8 MW
Edge Moor 5	446 MW
Edge Moor 10	12.5 MW
Hay Road 1	115 MW
Hay Road 2	115 MW
Hay Road 3	115 MW
Hay Road 5	122 MW
Hay Road 6	122 MW
Hay Road 7	122 MW

This plant was one of the first built with a fully centralized control system, which creates better operating efficiency and safety. When Calpine acquired the 725 MW facility in 2010 as part of its purchase of the Conectiv Energy assets, the company made the decision to discontinue burning coal at the site. Calpine’s decision to run Edge Moor primarily using natural gas is in keeping with its corporate philosophy to produce power in an environmentally sensitive fashion.

Currently, the plant uses state-of-the-art technologies, installed in early 2009, to control emissions. Unit 10 is a combustion turbine unit which uses low-sulfur diesel and is Black Start capable, meaning that in an emergency if the whole grid system goes down (causing a blackout), the self-sufficient unit can be used to bring the system back online. The unit can be started without needing a feed from a larger unit and, in turn, can feed the power needed by larger units to restart after a blackout.

Location: Wilmington, DE

Commercial Operation Date: January 1965

Calpine Net Interest Baseload (MW): 0 megawatts

Calpine Net Interest With Peaking (MW): 725 megawatts

Ownership: Calpine 100%

Technology: Natural gas-fired/oil, simple-cycle

Turbines: Two General Electric ST, one Westinghouse ST, one TP&M FT-4A-5

NERC Region: RFC

Hay Road Energy Center Calpine acquired the 1,130 MW Hay Road facility in 2010 as part of its purchase of the Conectiv Energy assets. Units at the complex use an advanced dry combustion process to limit the formation of pollutants, thus preserving valuable water resources.

Location: Wilmington, DE

Commercial Operation Date: January 1989

Calpine Net Interest Baseload (MW): 1030 megawatts

Calpine Net Interest With Peaking (MW): 1130 megawatts

Ownership: Calpine 100%

Technology: Natural gas-fired/oil, combined-cycle

Turbines: Six Siemens V84.2, one ABB ST, one Alstrom ST

NERC Region: RFC

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Edge Moor Power Plant

In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma-related episodes and asthma-related emergency room visits, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, peneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution is formed from a combination of soot, acid droplets, and heavy metals formed from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and soot. Among those particles, the most dangerous are the smallest (smaller than 2.5 microns), which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities.

The table below estimates the death and illness attributable to the Edge Moor Power Plant. Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Edge Moor Power Plant

Type of Impact	Annual Incidence	Valuation
Deaths	31	$230,000,000
Heart attacks	54	$6,000,000
Asthma attacks	510	$27,000
Hospital admissions	25	$580,000
Chronic bronchitis	19	$8,500,000
Asthma ER visits	21	$8,000

Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011

Plant Data for Edge Moor

• Owner: Calpine
• Parent Company: Calpine
• Units and In-Service Dates: 75 MW (1954), 177 MW (1966), 446 MW (1973), 12.5 MW (1963)
• Location: 200 Hay Rd., Wilmington, DE 19809
• GPS Coordinates: 39.738611, -75.504167
• Coal Consumption: Converted to natural gas in 2010
• Coal Source: N/A
• Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

• 2006 CO₂ Emissions: 1,964,871 tons
• 2006 SO₂ Emissions:
• 2006 SO₂ Emissions per MWh:
• 2006 NO_x Emissions:
• 2005 Mercury Emissions:

State	Plant	Owner/ Operator	County	Year	Tons of Coal Waste	Fly Ash Total	Bottom Ash Total
Delaware	Edge Moor	New Castle	Conectiv Energy Supply Inc	2005	74,600	62,900	11,700

State	Facility ID#	Unit	Year	Op. hrs	Months	SO2 Tons	NOx Rate(lb/mmBtu)	NOx Tons	CO2 Tons	Heat Input(mmBtu)
DE	Edge Moor 593	10	2009	2	6		0.25	0.0		366
DE	Edge Moor 593	3	2009	6,541	12	738.9	0.13	212.6	317,033.8	3,095,937
DE	Edge Moor 593	4	2009	3,307	12	1,404.6	0.16	273.7	322,045.0	3,174,808
DE	Edge Moor 593	5	2009	217	12	150.3	0.19	72.8	46,266.8	594,682
DE	Facility Total		2009			'		'	'

State	Facility ID#	Unit	Year	Op. hrs	Months	SO2 Tons	NOx Rate(lb/mmBtu)	NOx Tons	CO2 Tons	Heat Input(mmBtu)
DE	Hay Road 7153	3	2009	1531	12	1.3	0.07	50.0	103,208.7	1,723,618
DE	Hay Road 7153	1	2009	1624	12	1.6	0.08	62.0	109,712.1	1,827,102
DE	Hay Road 7153	2	2009	1610	12	1.6	0.08	65.4	109,417.9	1,822,667
DE	Hay Road 7153	5	2009	1707	12	1.3	0.05	33.5	112,978.6	1,888,399
DE	Hay Road 7153	6	2009	1618	12	1.3	0.05	28.4	108,261.4	1,805,958
DE	Hay Road 7153	7	2009	1531	12	1.3	0.07	50.0	103,208.7	1,723,618
	Facility Total		2009			'		'	'

Source: http://camddataandmaps.epa.gov/gdm/index.cfm?fuseaction=emissions.wizard

Articles and Resources

Sources

• Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005, Energy Information Administration, accessed Jan. 2009.
• Environmental Integrity Project, "Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants", July 2007.
• Facility Registry System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed Jan. 2009.
• Carbon Monitoring for Action database, accessed Feb. 2009.

Related SourceWatch Articles

• Existing U.S. Coal Plants
• Delaware and coal
• United States and coal
• Global warming

External Articles

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