Rock River Generating Station

Rock River Generating Station
Map
CountryUnited States
LocationTown of Beloit, Wisconsin
Coordinates42°34′55″N 89°1′39″W / 42.58194°N 89.02750°W / 42.58194; -89.02750
StatusDemolition in progress, June 2016
Commission dateUnit 1 1952
Unit 2 1953
Decommission date
  • June 2020
OwnersWisconsin Power and Light
Thermal power station
Primary fuelNatural gas, originally coal
Turbine technologySteam turbine
Cooling sourceRock River
Power generation
Units operational2
Nameplate capacity
  • 318.9 MW
External links
CommonsRelated media on Commons
[edit on Wikidata]

Rock River Generating Station was 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 was owned and operated by Wisconsin Power and Light, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alliant Energy.

History

The facility opened in the early 1950s and consists of two 280 megawatts (970 million British thermal units per hour) Babcock & 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 has not been burned at the site since 2007 because the facility closed the landfill it had used for fly ash.[2] Coal burning boilers, Unit 1 and 2, were officially retired April 1, 2010.[3] Electricity was generated via steam turbines and process water was taken from the Rock River.

On June 25, 2016, a worker was killed as the plant was being demolished. Demolition was expected to be completed by the end of 2016.[4]

Adjacent facilities

An Alliant maintenance facility, Southern Area, and Riverside Energy Center, a 603 MW combined cycle natural gas facility, formerly owned by Calpine, are located adjacent to the station.[5][6][7]

A second combined cycle natural gas plant was approved for construction March 31, 2016 at Riverside Energy Center, just west of the Rock River Generating station.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Air permit(ZIP and DOC)
  2. ^ "ALLIANT ENERGY CORP, Form 10-K, Annual Report, Filing Date Mar 4, 2005". secdatabase.com. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
  3. ^ Clean Air Permit 154003740-P21, WI DNR, July 11, 2013
  4. ^ "Worker killed after accident during energy plant demolition". fox6now.com. June 25, 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  5. ^ Garage Locations
  6. ^ Calpine | Power Plants Archived 2008-02-16 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Calpine | Power Plants | Power Plants Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Modernizing the Riverside Energy Center". Alliant. Retrieved June 28, 2016.