Dominion says Salem Harbor Coal/Oil-Fired Units Uneconomical
Power and gas utility Dominion Resources, Inc. (NYSE: D) said today it has received regulatory approval to close two of the four units at its Salem Harbor Power Station in Salem, Massachusetts, by the end of the 2011 and plans to retire all four units on June 1, 2014, because pending environmental regulations and market conditions are making the power station uneconomical to operate.
Salem Harbor Power Station generates about 745 megawatts (MW), sufficient to power about 745,000 homes. Units one (82 MW), two (80MW) and three (150 MW)are coal-burning, while unit four (433 MW) burns oil. Salem Harbor began commercial operation in 1951. Dominion purchased the station in February 2005.
Dominion originally applied to the regional transmission authority ISO New England for permission to close all four Salem Harbor units, but the authority determined that units three and four were currently needed for system reliability.
Dominion and its subsidiary Virginia Power have a total generation capacity of 27,600 MW, fueled by coal (30%), natural gas (26.8%); nuclear (22%); oil (12%); hydro (8%), biomass (0.31%) and wind (1%). The company’s wind generation facilities are the 300 MW Fowler Ridge wind project in Benton County, Indiana, owned 50% by BP Alternative Energy, and the 264 NedPower Mountain Storm wind project in Grant County, West Virginia, owned 50% by Shell Wind Energy.
The company also has 11,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline and 6,200 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion operates the nation's largest natural gas storage system with 947 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in 15 states.
Photo credit: Dominion
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