Plant Bowen
- 2 min read
- 2 chapters
Related on Lably
Through Coal, Particulate matter and Electrostatic precipitator
Description
Plant Bowen consists of four units, with capacities of 806, 789, 952, and 952 megawatts, respectively. The first unit began operation in 1971, and additional units were brought online in 1972, 1974, and 1975, respectively.
Bowen's four cooling towers are 381 ft (116 m) tall and 318 ft (97 m) in diameter and can cool 1,100,000 U.S. gallons (4,200 cubic meters) per minute. Another 26,000 US gallons (98 m3) per minute or 37 million US gallons (140,000 m3) per day of water is lost to evaporation which creates the distinctive white clouds rising from each tower.
Bowen's two smokestacks are 1,001 ft (305 m) tall. Particulates are removed from the exhaust gases through the use of electrostatic precipitators. The exhaust gases are then closely monitored to comply with air quality regulations. In addition, Jet Bubble Reactor (JBR) units have recently been constructed on all four units to meet federal clean air and ozone standards. Coal for this plant comes from Eastern Kentucky and is delivered by CSX Transportation Inc. Atlanta Division crews with unit coal trains that are sometimes 120 cars long.
Sign in to keep reading
One more chapter is free with a Lably account.
Incidents
On 4 April 2013, an explosion occurred on unit 2 while it was being removed from service and readied for a planned maintenance outage. This caused significant damage to the plant but there were no serious injuries. The explosion was attributed to a mixture of hydrogen and air in the generator, due to failure to comply with procedures.
On July 13, 2017, a transformer in the plant's switchyard caught fire. A thick, black cloud of smoke was formed, but no one was injured.