Plant Bowen, commonly known as Bowen Steam Plant, is a
coal-fired
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 ...
power station located just outside
Euharlee, Georgia
Euharlee is a city in Bartow County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,136 at the 2010 census, an increase of 29% over the 2000 count of 3,208.
Euharlee is a bedroom community of Cartersville, the Bartow County seat which is located t ...
, United States, approximately west-south-west from
Cartersville
Cartersville is a city in Bartow County, Georgia, Bartow County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States; it is located within the northwest edge of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city ha ...
. At over 3,450 megawatts, Plant Bowen is one of the largest coal-fired power plants in North America. The station is connected to the southeastern
power grid
An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...
by numerous 500
kV transmission lines, and is owned and operated by
Georgia Power
Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was established as the Georgia Railway and Power Company and began operations in 1902 running streetcars in Atlanta as a successor to the Atlanta Consolida ...
, a subsidiary of
Southern Company
Southern Company is an American gas and electric utility holding company based in the southern United States. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with executive offices also located in Birmingham, Alabama. The company is the second largest ...
.
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 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 are tall and in diameter and can cool per minute. Another per minute or per day of water is lost to evaporation which creates the distinctive white clouds rising from each tower.
Bowen's two
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 ...
s are tall.
Particulate
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 ...
s are removed from the exhaust gases through the use of
electrostatic precipitator
An electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is a filterless device that removes fine particles, like dust and smoke, from a flowing gas using the force of an induced electrostatic charge minimally impeding the flow of gases through the unit.
In cont ...
s. 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.
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.
See also
*
List of coal power stations The following page lists all coal-fired power stations (including lignite-fired) that are or larger current net capacity, which are currently operational or under construction. If a station also has units which do not burn coal, only coal-fired ca ...
*
List of largest power stations in the world
This article lists the largest power stations in the world, the ten overall and the five of each type, in terms of current installed electrical capacity. Non-renewable power stations are those that run on coal, fuel oils, nuclear fuel, natural g ...
*
List of power stations in the United States
The United States is home to a wide variety of power stations. The list below outlines power stations of significance by type, or by the U.S. state, state in which they reside.
By type
The following pages lists the power stations in the United ...
References
External links
Georgia Power: Plant BowenPlant DiagramData on generation and fuel consumptionfrom the
Energy Information Administration
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and publ ...
Electricity Data Browser
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Towers in Georgia (U.S. state)
Coal-fired power stations in Georgia (U.S. state)
Buildings and structures in Bartow County, Georgia
Chimneys in the United States
Georgia Power
Energy infrastructure completed in 1975
Towers completed in 1975
Industrial fires and explosions in the United States