James River Cogeneration Plant
James River Cogeneration Plant is a retired 115-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station near Hopewell, Virginia.
Retirement
On May 25, 2016, PJM approved plant owner James River Genco’s request to deactivate the existing coal-fired facility as of May 31, 2017. After the facility is decommissioned, new owner City Point Energy Center LLC intends to construct and operate a new approximately 50 MW steam and electric generation facility firing a natural/landfill gas mixture.[1] The deal was approved in November 2016.[2]
On May 15, 2017, an updated deactivation notice for the coal plant was issued with PJM Interconnection, with a new deactivation date of May 31, 2018.[3] In 2018 the retirement date was pushed back to 2019.[4]
Units 1-2 were retired in June 2019.[5]
Plant Data
- Owner: City Point Energy Center LLC (acquired from James River Cogeneration Company in 2016)
- Parent Company: City Point Energy Center LLC
- Plant Nameplate Capacity: 115 MW (Megawatts)
- Units and In-Service Dates: 57 MW (1988), 57 MW (1988)
- Location: 912 East Randolph Rd., Hopewell, VA 23860
- GPS Coordinates: 37.297152, -77.27637
- Coal Consumption:
- Coal Source:
- Number of Employees:
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 1,141,000 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions:
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions:
- 2005 Mercury Emissions:
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from James River 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.[6] Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, 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. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. 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. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal 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.[7]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from James River Plant
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 8 | $62,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 13 | $1,400,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 140 | $7,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 6 | $150,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 5 | $2,300,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 7 | $3,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Citizen groups
- Appalachian Voices
- Blue Ridge Earth First
- Concerned Citizens of Giles County
- Do Something Charlottesville
- Chesapeake Climate Action Virginia
- Mountain Justice Blacksburg
- Sierra Club Virginia Chapter
- Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards
- Virginia Tech Beyond Coal
- Wise Energy for Virginia
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ Barry Cassell, "FERC okays sale of doomed James River coal plant in Virginia," Transmission Hub, 11/29/2016
- ↑ Barry Cassell, "New owner plans to shut James River coal plant; build new capacity at the site," Generation Hub, Nov 23, 2016
- ↑ "Future deactivations," PJM Interconnection LLC, updated June 1, 2017
- ↑ "Table 6.6. Planned U.S. Electric Generating Unit Retirements," EIA, October 2018
- ↑ "Table 6.4. Retired Utility Scale Generating Units by Operating Company, Plant, and Month, 2019," US EIA, 10/24/2019
- ↑ "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
- ↑ "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool," Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010
- 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
- Virginia and coal
- Cogentrix
- Goldman Sachs
- United States and coal
- Global warming
External Articles
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