Mt. Tom Power Plant is near the end

[Jedijk88]

Mount Tom Station, one of the few remaining coal-burning power generation plants in Massachusetts, will be taken off line for one year in 2016, and environmental groups opposed to the plant say the move signals it will be permanently shut down.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... leave.html

[newpylong]

Knock it down and build a Nuclear Power Plant. Railroad gets a contract for debris removal and then construction of the new plant. We get clean energy.

[rmccown]

Knock it down and build a Nuclear Power Plant. Railroad gets a contract for debris removal and then construction of the new plant. We get clean energy.

And NIMBYs in the area get into such a vibrating froth you can feel the ground shake in downtown Boston.

[newpylong]

Absolutely, considering people along Route 2 in Western/Central MA have "Fall Out Zone" signs on their lawns for Vermont Yankee.

I think most people want cheap power to magically be made, in another dimension.

[MEC407]

Would it be feasible to convert the plant to natural gas? Or how about biofuels such as wood pellets?

[KSmitty]

Would it be feasible to convert the plant to natural gas? Or how about biofuels such as wood pellets?

Heres hoping for some BioCoal fresh outta Millinocket! Unit coal trains on D1!

[MEC407]

Now that would be cool... assuming D1 gets the maintenance and capacity upgrades it so desperately needs!

[necr3849]

Mt. Tom jobs used to be some of the most sought-after moves to get out west. At one time, you could see CP, CR, CSX, NS or GRS power on those runs. I'm certainly glad I got some of those at the beginning of the century!

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20070 ... 610705.jpg for old-time sake. At this time, some folks were guessing today's west end would be gone by now. So much traffic was being routed via the CSX Boston Line, these types of coal jobs were pretty much all that was guaranteed in Distict 4.

[newpylong]

The possible abandonment of the West End was in the last Conrail years, 1990s. The picture was more like this:

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20070 ... M&BOOL=ALL

When Conrail split into CSX/NS the traffic came back...

In 2001 there were plenty of jobs out there: EDMO/MOED, EDRJ/SEED, SRED/EDSR, ED5/6, Nocturnal and fledgling MOAY/AYMO. I was with you watching them!

[NRGeep]

Knock it down and build a Nuclear Power Plant. Railroad gets a contract for debris removal and then construction of the new plant. We get clean energy.

The corporate welfare operating subsidies for nuclear power makes Solondra look like peanuts and there's nothing "clean" about nuclear waste. Uranium mines (frequently on Native American land) are cancer factories. Um, back to trains now.

[necr3849]

Newpy,

How many of those were guaranteed then, like none? Remember when Chris and I sat out there that Saturday and the first thing to show was a coal train at 6pm? I recall 2002 and 2003 really being the busiest most consistently. 2001 had its moments. Hands-down, that whole era of five years til 2005 was uncertain at best. As for you, you're just a communist who doesn't shoot pics anymore!;)

[pvrr2647]

The plant cannot be converted to natural gas as the HG&E doesn't have the infrastructure for a large consumer like that, they'ed have to run like a 10" or bigger gas line to the plant, have a couple of booster stations and some jugs just to make it operable. The city most likely afford that kind of project. Let's not forget that the plant was built in 1958 and went commercial in 1960. The plant is a simple (Rankine) cycle with a poor heat rate as well, so the economics of converting to gas are just not there. Trying to change over to wood chip or "biocoal" isn't practical either because the fuel (pulverized coal) is burned in suspension, and there is no grate in the furnace on which to support the combustion process, so that idea is out too. It appears to me that closure is inevitable. I sure will miss her, she was a great plant, tough to operate; but engineered and built really really well, it's a crying shame. The real kicker is that the "Northern Pass project" that will force almost all of the plants out of business in New England will be powered by coal plants just north of the border owned by Quebec Hydro, and these plants don't have any of the emission control equipment that the Mt. Tom or Somerset plants have. So we are just outsourcing the pollution. But I digress, back to talking about trains now.

[Ridgefielder]

The plant cannot be converted to natural gas as the HG&E doesn't have the infrastructure for a large consumer like that, they'ed have to run like a 10" or bigger gas line to the plant, have a couple of booster stations and some jugs just to make it operable. The city most likely afford that kind of project. Let's not forget that the plant was built in 1958 and went commercial in 1960. The plant is a simple (Rankine) cycle with a poor heat rate as well, so the economics of converting to gas are just not there. Trying to change over to wood chip or "biocoal" isn't practical either because the fuel (pulverized coal) is burned in suspension, and there is no grate in the furnace on which to support the combustion process, so that idea is out too. It appears to me that closure is inevitable. I sure will miss her, she was a great plant, tough to operate; but engineered and built really really well, it's a crying shame. The real kicker is that the "Northern Pass project" that will force almost all of the plants out of business in New England will be powered by coal plants just north of the border owned by Quebec Hydro, and these plants don't have any of the emission control equipment that the Mt. Tom or Somerset plants have. So we are just outsourcing the pollution. But I digress, back to talking about trains now.

Just because *this* plant is closing, does that necessarily mean it couldn't be knocked down and replaced by a new plant on the same location?

[BigLou80]

The plant cannot be converted to natural gas as the HG&E doesn't have the infrastructure for a large consumer like that, they'ed have to run like a 10" or bigger gas line to the plant, have a couple of booster stations and some jugs just to make it operable. The city most likely afford that kind of project. Let's not forget that the plant was built in 1958 and went commercial in 1960. The plant is a simple (Rankine) cycle with a poor heat rate as well, so the economics of converting to gas are just not there. Trying to change over to wood chip or "biocoal" isn't practical either because the fuel (pulverized coal) is burned in suspension, and there is no grate in the furnace on which to support the combustion process, so that idea is out too. It appears to me that closure is inevitable. I sure will miss her, she was a great plant, tough to operate; but engineered and built really really well, it's a crying shame. The real kicker is that the "Northern Pass project" that will force almost all of the plants out of business in New England will be powered by coal plants just north of the border owned by Quebec Hydro, and these plants don't have any of the emission control equipment that the Mt. Tom or Somerset plants have. So we are just outsourcing the pollution. But I digress, back to talking about trains now.

Just because *this* plant is closing, does that necessarily mean it couldn't be knocked down and replaced by a new plant on the same location?

The best bet by far is to add a grate, or change out the boiler all together. It would stop all the bitching and moaning about a biomass plant in greenfield. The plant is already set up to handle solid fuel ( woodchips, coal) and wood is a readily available fuel. I can't imagine needing unit chip trains as million of ton's are available locally, but a steady supply of supplemental wood chips will be a necessity.

[Eliphaz]

The plant would run even less fired with woodchips than it does now fired with coal. the delivered price of the fuel would be higher than coal, and the plant heat rate would be worse. also, the size and geometry of the existing boiler is not ideal for burning wood chips in numerous ways beyond the absence of a stoker grate, etc , etc.

The plant is being closed because 10 months of the year, it is out of economic merit.
During january and february of this past winter when gas supplies got tight it got called on for a few weeks. That state of affairs isnt justification to keep the lights on the rest of the year, and it certainly isnt justification to spend any money on any fuel conversion.

unless and until cheap abundant shale gas suddenly dries up (not to say that can't happen) Mt Tom is a boat anchor.