The Paradise Combined Cycle Plant (formerly known as Paradise Fossil Plant) is 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 ...
operated by the
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...
(TVA). Located just east of
Drakesboro, Kentucky
Drakesboro is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 515 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Incorporated in 1888, the city was na ...
, it was the highest power capacity power plant in
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
. The plant currently has a capacity of 1.02-gigawatts (1,025 MW).
The plant originally consisted of three
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
units, with a combined capacity of 2,632 MW (2,379 MW net). Units 1 and 2 were retired in 2017, and replaced with the natural gas units, and Unit 3 was retired in 2020.
History
Paradise is located near the site of the former town of
Paradise, Kentucky
Paradise was a small town in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, United States. The town was located east-north-east of Greenville and was formerly called Stom's Landing (sometimes incorrectly spelled Stum).[Green River Green River may refer to:
Rivers
Canada
*Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River
*Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte
*Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...]
. Units 1 and 2, each with a capacity of 741 megawatts (704 MW net), began operation in 1963. Unit 3, with a capacity of 1,150 MW (971 MW net), began operations in 1970. Paradise contains three natural draft
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 ...
s, and was the only TVA fossil fuel plant with cooling towers.
The town was razed by the TVA in 1967 over concerns that ash and other plant emissions would damage residents' health. A barge unloading facility was constructed in 1985 so that coal could be delivered via barge, as well as by train and truck.
The Paradise's two original coal-fired generating units were shut down in favor of two natural gas plants that were brought online for commercial production April 7, 2017.
The retirement of Units 1 and 2 reduced the coal consumption by nearly half in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.
According to the TVA, the authority made strides in cleaning up the emissions coming from their fossil fuel combustion facilities. Graphs and data from the TVA suggest that emissions in
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 ...
(),
nitrogen oxide Nitrogen oxide may refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds:
Charge-neutral
*Nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen(II) oxide, or nitrogen monoxide
*Nitrogen dioxide (), nitrogen(IV) oxide
* Nitrogen trioxide (), or n ...
(), and
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
() have dropped dramatically since the mid-1970s.
In August 2018, TVA began studying the possibility of closing the remaining unit at Paradise. A final environmental assessment prepared by the TVA concluded that the adverse environmental impacts of these fossil plants outweighed the need for them in this community; therefore it was necessary to close them.
On February 14, 2019, the TVA board of directors voted 5-2 to shut down Paradise Unit 3 by December 2020, as well as
Bull Run near
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of downtown Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 31,402 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. Oak ...
in 2023. High costs and low
capacity factor
The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is de ...
were factors in their decision. This decision came following intense lobbying by the
Trump Administration
Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...
and Kentucky governor
Matt Bevin
Matthew Griswold Bevin (; born January 9, 1967) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 62nd governor of Kentucky, from 2015 to 2019. He was the third Republican elected Kentucky governor since World War II, after Ernie Fletc ...
to keep the plant open. Chief Executive,
Bill Johnson, of the TVA said that the closing of Paradise and Bull Run's coal units will save consumers approximately $320 million. On February 1, 2020 the last coal-fired unit at Paradise Fossil Plant was shut down after 50 years of operation.
On November 10, 2022, the TVA demolished the cooling towers of all three retired coal-firing units by controlled implosion. TVA plans to install a solar power farm in place of the demolished cooling towers.
Cultural references
In 1971, singer/songwriter
John Prine
John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He ...
, whose father was from Paradise, released a recording of his song titled "
Paradise
In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...
". The song describes the former town of
Paradise, Kentucky
Paradise was a small town in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, United States. The town was located east-north-east of Greenville and was formerly called Stom's Landing (sometimes incorrectly spelled Stum).[Coal mining in Kentucky Coal was discovered in Kentucky in 1750. Since the first commercial coal mine opened in 1820 coal has gained both economic importance and controversy regarding its environmental consequences. As of 2010 there were 442 operating coal mines in the sta ...]
*
List of largest power stations in the United States
This article lists the largest electrical generating stations in the United States in terms of current installed electrical capacity. Non-renewable power stations are those that run on coal, fuel oils, nuclear, natural gas, oil shale and peat, ...
References
External links
Official website – Fossil PlantOfficial website – Combined Cycle Plant
{{Tennessee Valley Authority Facilities
Energy infrastructure completed in 1963
Energy infrastructure completed in 1970
Energy infrastructure completed in 2017
Former coal-fired power stations in the United States
Natural gas-fired power stations in Kentucky
Buildings and structures in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky
Tennessee Valley Authority
1963 establishments in Kentucky