The B.L. England Generating Station, also called Beesley's Point Generating Station, was a power plant in
Upper Township,
Cape May County
Cape May County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Much of the county is located on Cape May bound by Delaware Bay to its west and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and east. Adjacent to the Atlantic coastline are fiv ...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, United States, on the
Great Egg Harbor River
The Great Egg Harbor River is a river in South Jersey.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 It is one of the major rivers that traverse the largely pristine ...
. The facility provided approximately 450 megawatts of generating capacity from three generating units. Two units burned coal (and up to 7 percent
Tire-derived fuel
Tire-derived fuel (TDF) is composed of shredded scrap tires. Tires may be mixed with coal or other fuels, such as wood or chemical wastes, to be burned in concrete kilns, power plants, or paper mills. An EPA test program concluded that, with t ...
) and the third unit burned
bunker C
Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...
oil. Its large
smokestack
A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...
, altered to resemble a
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
, contained a
sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic gas responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is released naturally by volcanic activ ...
scrubber which removed the SO
2 from the
flue gas
Flue gas is the gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue, which is a pipe or channel for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, oven, furnace, boiler or steam generator. Quite often, the flue gas refers to the combustion exhaust gas produced a ...
and converted it into
gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...
, which can be sold. The scrubber allowed the two coal units to use less expensive high sulfur coal from
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
.
The plant is visible from the
Great Egg Harbor Bridge
The Great Egg Harbor Bridge is a series of four bridges along the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, with Toll bridge, tolls collected in the southbound direction. It crosses the Great Egg Harbor Bay, connecting Upper Township, New Jersey, Upper ...
on the
Garden State Parkway
The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jersey ...
, and many confuse it with the
Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station
Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Station was a single unit 636 MWe boiling water reactor power plant in the United States. The plant is located on an site adjacent to Oyster Creek in the Forked River section of Lacey Township in Ocean County, New ...
and its
hyperboloid
In geometry, a hyperboloid of revolution, sometimes called a circular hyperboloid, is the surface generated by rotating a hyperbola around one of its principal axes. A hyperboloid is the surface obtained from a hyperboloid of revolution by defo ...
cooling tower
A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and ...
, which recirculates hot water to avoid discharging into
Great Egg Harbor Bay
Great Egg Harbor Bay (or Great Egg Harbor) is a bay between Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic and Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May counties along the southern New Jersey coast. The name derives from Dutch explorer Cornelius Jacobsen May's ...
and cause
thermal pollution
Thermal pollution, sometimes called "thermal enrichment", is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature. Thermal pollution is the rise or fall in the temperature of a natural body of water caused by hum ...
.
The plant was decommissioned on May 1, 2019 and has been slowly being demolished, with major demolition starting on April 21, 2023.
History
In 1961, four
diesel electric generators opened at the site now known as B.L. England.
A year later,
Atlantic City Electric
Pepco Holdings was a holding company incorporated in February 2001 for the purpose of effecting the acquisition of Conectiv Power Delivery by Potomac Electric Power Company (better known as "Pepco"). The acquisition was completed on August 1, 200 ...
built Unit 1, a 129
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...
(MW) coal-powered plant in the
Beesley's Point section of
Upper Township, New Jersey
Upper Township is a large township in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 12,373, reflecting an increase of ...
.
This makes it the oldest coal plant in the state.
Two years later, the power company built an additional 156 MW coal-burning unit. Both facilities utilized
cyclone furnace
A cyclone furnace is a type of coal combustor commonly used in large industrial boilers.
Background
Developed in the early 1942 by Babcock & Wilcox to take advantage of coal grades not suitable for pulverized coal combustion, cyclone furnaces fee ...
s to generate power. The coal produced
bottom ash
Bottom ash is part of the non-combustible residue of combustion in a power plant, boiler, furnace or incinerator. In an industrial context, it has traditionally referred to coal combustion and comprises traces of combustibles embedded in formin ...
that was cooled by the nearby saltwater of the
Great Egg Harbor Bay
Great Egg Harbor Bay (or Great Egg Harbor) is a bay between Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic and Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May counties along the southern New Jersey coast. The name derives from Dutch explorer Cornelius Jacobsen May's ...
, and was transported by an
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
pipe. As the coal was not
pulverized, the ash was thicker than usual, causing the iron pipes to rupture.
In 1968, B.L. England Station replaced the cast iron pipes with of
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
-lined pipes, capable of withstanding temperatures up to 662°
F (350°
C. These pipes, known as ABRESIST, are among the oldest of their design in the United States. Since their installation in 1968, four sections of the basalt pipes have been replaced, including once in the 1990s when an section of pipe broke near the inside tank.
Also in 1968, B.L. England added a
water pump
A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic energy. Pumps can be classified into three major groups according to the method they u ...
and a coal fuel handling unit. In 1974, a
cooling tower
A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and ...
was added,
and another boiler unit was built, expanding the plant's capacity to 450 MW.
The smoke stack was replaced in 1987, designed to look like a lighthouse.
On January 24, 2006, the
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is a government agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is responsible for managing the state's natural resources and addressing issues related to pollution. NJDEP now has a staff o ...
(DEP) issued an administrative consent order to Atlantic City Electric for the power plant violating the
Clean Air Act. The order required that the power plant meet performance standards. At that time, the plant released significant amounts of pollutants into the air, lacking state-of-the-art pollution controls. On August 17, RC Cape May Holdings bought the power plant for $12.2 million, assuming all environmental liabilities, which took effect in 2007. In 2011, the company lost a bid for a state government-backed program to construct a new natural gas facility. In 2012, RC Cape May Holdings came to an agreement with the DEP to resolve violations. Under the plan, the oldest coal plant (Unit 1) was shut down in 2013. The other two units were scheduled be converted to a
natural gas power plant
A gas-fired power plant or gas-fired power station or natural gas power plant is a thermal power station which burns natural gas to generate electricity. Natural gas power stations generate almost a quarter of world electricity and a signifi ...
, which would eliminate most pollutants.
Proposed conversion to natural gas
On March 8, 2013,
South Jersey Gas (SJG) filed a petition with the
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) is a regulatory authority in New Jersey "with authority to oversee the regulated utilities, which in turn provide critical services such as natural gas, electricity, water, telecommunications and ca ...
(NJBPU) to build a -wide, pipeline from Cumberland Energy Center in
Millville to Upper Township. The pipeline would run underneath state and county roads, at a cost of $90 million.
The company argued that the pipeline would provide jobs, supply energy within the state, and provide a backup to the main gas line in the region.
The company held the first of several public forums on March 8, 2013 in
Petersburg, with mixed to negative public feedback to the proposal. On June 21, the NJBPU approved the plan, with additional support from the city of
Estell Manor, Upper Township, and the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
About of the proposed pipeline would go under the
Pinelands National Reserve
New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve (also known as Pinelands National Reserve) is a national reserve that encompasses the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
The Pinelands is a unique location of historic villages and berry farms amid the vast oak ...
, where public utilities are banned. SJG proposed to the Pinelands Committee that the group be exempted from adding the new natural gas lines, and in exchange the company would pay $8 million into a fund. The Pinelands Commission voted 7-7, with one abstention, on January 10, 2014.
In 2015, SJG resubmitted its proposal. On July 22, the NJBPU approved specified language from SJG that the proposed pipeline would not add additional natural gas customers within the forest areas.
The Pinelands Commission passed a certificate of filing on August 14, Pinelands Commission executive director Nancy Wittenberg passed a certificate of filing, stating that the project could proceed because it fell under the comprehensive management plan.
On December 16, the NJBPU approved that the proposed pipeline could be built without oversight from local planning boards.
On September 4, 2015, the Pinelands Preservation Alliance (PPA) filed an
appeal
In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
against the NJBPA.
In January 2016, the New Jersey
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
and Environment New Jersey filed a lawsuit against the NJBPU and the Pinelands Commission. In November 2016, the
New Jersey Appellate Court ruled that Nancy Wittenberg, director of the Pinelands Commission, overstepped her authority for allowing the project to proceed.
On February 24, 2017, the Pinelands Commission voted 9-5 in favor of the project. In response, the New Jersey Sierra Club and Environment New Jersey filed an appeal to the
New Jersey Superior Court
The Superior Court is the state court in the U.S. state of New Jersey, with statewide trial and appellate jurisdiction. The New Jersey Constitution of 1947 establishes the power of the New Jersey courts.Jeffrey S. Mandel, New Jersey Appellate Pra ...
on April 10, arguing that the pipeline's construction ran counter to the goals of the Pinelands Commission.
In April 2017, B.L. England was scheduled to be shut down temporarily and converted to a natural gas plant, but the order was canceled, with plans to keep the facility operational for another two years. On February 27, 2019, the station's owner abandoned its plans to convert the facility into a natural gas plant. The owner explored other options for a pipeline to Atlantic and Cape May counties on a different route.
Closure
In December 2016, B.L. England filed to decommission the plant, although that was delayed due to upgrades to the power grid. After the decision not to convert the plant to natural gas, the power plant was permanently shut down on May 1, 2019. The closure potentially affected the yearly budget of Upper Township, which received $6 million each year for hosting the power plant.
B.L. England is currently having parts such as the control room removed and used for other plants. Once scrapping is complete the plant site will be abandoned.
The
Ocean Wind
Ocean Wind is a proposed utility-scale offshore wind farm to be located on the Outer Continental Shelf approximately off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey. It is being developed by Ørsted US Offshore Wind in conjunction with Public Service ...
offshore wind farm is proposing to use the substation at B.L. England to transmit its power to the grid.
On September 29, 2022, the
hyperboloid cooling tower was imploded.
On April 21, 2023, the boiler units were imploded.
[https://6abc.com/bl-england-generating-station-demolition-beesleys-point-power-plant-implosion-cape-may-county-new-jersey/13164571/]
Operations
As of 2005, B.L. England's annual budget was around $30 million, of which around half was related to maintenance. The facility burned 600,000–700,000 tons of coal per year, of which 30% came from the
Powder River Basin
The Powder River Basin is a geologic structural basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its extensive coal reserves. The former hunting grounds of the Oglala Lakota, the area is very s ...
, while the remaining is eastern
bituminous coal
Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...
. As a
by-product
A by-product or byproduct is a secondary product derived from a production process, manufacturing process or chemical reaction; it is not the primary product or service being produced.
A by-product can be useful and marketable or it can be consid ...
, the facility produced 60,000–70,000 tons of
slag
Slag is a by-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and used metals. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (by-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-prod ...
per year. Twice per year – for four weeks in the spring and two weeks in the fall – the plant is shut down to transport the slag.
Before its closure, the plant employed about 100 people, which fell to around 70 after the plant was only used for peak capacity.
Prior to its closure, the annual emissions of the facility - when all units were operational - was 10,629 tons of nitrogen oxides (
NOx
In atmospheric chemistry, is shorthand for nitric oxide () and nitrogen dioxide (), the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution.
These gases contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain, as well as affecting tropos ...
), 40,370 tons of
Sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic gas responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is released naturally by volcanic activ ...
(), and 4,410 tons of
particulates
Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...
smaller than 10 micrometers.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official websiteScorecardEPA information
Buildings and structures in Cape May County, New Jersey
Coal-fired power stations in New Jersey
Oil-fired power stations in New Jersey
Upper Township, New Jersey