Country United States Cooling source Tennessee River Primary fuel Bituminous coal | Status Being decommissioned Units decommissioned 8 | |
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Location Jackson County, near Stevenson, Alabama Commission date Unit 1: July, 1952Unit 2: October, 1952Unit 3: November, 1952Unit 4: January, 1953Unit 5: June, 1954Unit 6: July, 1954Unit 7: February, 1961Unit 8: February, 1965 Owner Tennessee Valley Authority Similar Harllee Branch Power Plant, Buschhaus Power Station, Clifty Creek Power Plant | ||
Aerial Footage of Widows Creek Fossil Plant Implosion
Widows Creek Power Plant (also known as the Widows Creek Fossil Plant) was a major 1600-MWe coal-fired power station, 4.8 miles (7.7 km) east of Stevenson, Alabama USA. The plant, operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, generated about nine billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. It has one of the tallest chimneys in the world at 305 metres (1,001 ft), which was built in 1977.
Contents
- Aerial Footage of Widows Creek Fossil Plant Implosion
- HistoryEdit
- January 2009 gypsum slurry spillEdit
- EPA compliance agreementEdit
- Google Data CenterEdit
- References
HistoryEdit
Initially, six identical 140-MWe units were built between 1952 and 1954. Two more units (575 and 550 MWe name-plate capacity) were added in 1961 and 1965.
The last load of coal was delivered to the plant on 18 September 2015, with only one of its eight generation units working. The coal was enough to power unit 8 until 23 September 2015.
January 2009 gypsum slurry spillEdit
On January 9, 2009, the plant experienced a dam break on a gypsum slurry pond, and spilled up to 10,000 US gallons (38 m3) of waste (possibly including boron, cadmium, molybdenum and selenium) into the creek of the same name on the property, inundating it with an ashlike substance.
EPA compliance agreementEdit
On April 14, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations at 11 of its coal-fired plants in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Under the terms of the agreement, the entire Widows Creek plant will be affected:
Google Data CenterEdit
On June 24, 2015, Google announced it would invest $600 million to install a data center on land made available by the retirement of units 1-6. A renewable power capacity equivalent to the data center's needs will be added somewhere on the TVA system, so the data center will run on renewable energy.