The W.S. Lee Steam Station, which was previously called the Lee Steam Station, is an electric generation station located near

Williamston, South Carolina Williamston is a town in Anderson County, South Carolina, Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,934 at the 2010 census. Geography Williamston is located in northeastern Anderson County at (34.617699, -82.479256). Th ...

on the

Saluda River The Saluda River is a principal tributary of the Congaree River, about 200 mi (320 km) long, in northern and western South Carolina in the United States. Via the Congaree River, it is part of the watershed of the Santee River, which f ...

. It was named for William States Lee who was chief engineer of

Duke Power Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...

. He is the grandfather of

William States Lee III William States Lee III, popularly known as Bill Lee (1929 – July 10, 1996) was an American business executive at Duke Power Company, known as the cofounder of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations and initiator of the World Association of Nu ...

, who was a chairman and president of

. The plant began as a coal-fired steam plant in 1951. Coal use ended in 2014. It currently has combined-cycle natural gas turbines, a natural gas boiler, and dual-fuel, simple-cycle turbines.

Coal Era

The Lee Steam Station originally had three coal-fired units with a total electrical generating capacity of 370 MW. These units had

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 for the control of

particulate matter 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 ...

in the exhaust. In 2004,

nitrogen oxides 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 ni ...

emission controls were installed. The station also had three combustion turbines, which were replaced by two 42 MW turbines in 2007. In 2014, two of the coal-fired units were decommissioned. The third was converted to 180 MW natural-gas boiler in 2015.

Natural Gas Era

In 2018 it began operating two combined-cycle, natural-gas fired turbines. The turbines are Siemens SGT-(5000F5) equipped with dry low NO_x burners with

selective catalytic reduction Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) is a means of converting nitrogen oxides, also referred to as with the aid of a catalyst into diatomic nitrogen (), and water (). A reductant, typically anhydrous ammonia (), aqueous ammonia (), or a urea () s ...

for NO_x control and oxidation catalysts for CO and

VOC VOC, VoC or voc may refer to: Science and technology * Open-circuit voltage (VOC), the voltage between two terminals when there is no external load connected * Variant of concern, a category used during the assessment of a new variant of a virus ...

control. The natural gas boiler is equipped with low NO_x burners. The two simple-cycle turbines are permitted to use either natural gas or distillate fuel oil and are equipped with dual-fuel water injection for NO_x control. There are two multicell mechanical-draft cooling towers.

Coal Ash

As with many coal burning plants, the W.S. Lee Station has coal ash basins and other combustion residuals stored onsite. There were two active ash basins, an inactive ash basin, an ash structural fill, and an ash fill totaling about 3.2 million tons of ash. A geotechnical consultant indicated in 2010 that the active basins pose a potential threat if the embankments were to fail. Duke energy said that it would excavate the inactive basin and the ash fill, remove the ash, and haul it to a landfill near

Homer, Georgia Homer is a town in Banks County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1,141 at the 2010 census. The town is the county seat of Banks County. History The community was named after Homer Jackson, a pioneer citizen. Homer was founded in 1858 a ...

. The active basins and the structural landfill would be excavated and put in a lined landfill. The plan for the inactive basin and ash fill has been published. Status of coal ash basin closure is available for all Duke Energy plants.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in Anderson County, South Carolina 1951 establishments in South Carolina