Just across the state line and 10 miles from the pristine fairways and greens of Augusta National Golf Club, home to The Masters, sits what once was the oldest coal-burning power plant in the South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. fleet.
The plant, called Urquhart Station, was built in the early 1950s, and smoke from its three stacks rose above the banks of the Savannah River well before environmental regulators aggressively cracked down on emissions. As the turn of the century approached, the Urquhart Station was showing its age. Maintenance costs were rising and environmental regulations were stiffening. The plant seemed a likely candidate for retirement.
Instead, Urquhart Station was reborn.
The story of this old coal-burning plant in South Carolina is playing out at power plants across the U.S. New environmental regulations and the arrival of cheap, abundant natural gas – the result of new drilling techniques and technologies, such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling – have prompted a wave of aging power plants to switch from coal to natural gas.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/sponsored-content/api/energy-tomorrow/by-converting-to-natural-gas-old-coal-plants-get-a-second-lease-on-life-20150210
The plant, called Urquhart Station, was built in the early 1950s, and smoke from its three stacks rose above the banks of the Savannah River well before environmental regulators aggressively cracked down on emissions. As the turn of the century approached, the Urquhart Station was showing its age. Maintenance costs were rising and environmental regulations were stiffening. The plant seemed a likely candidate for retirement.
Instead, Urquhart Station was reborn.
The story of this old coal-burning plant in South Carolina is playing out at power plants across the U.S. New environmental regulations and the arrival of cheap, abundant natural gas – the result of new drilling techniques and technologies, such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling – have prompted a wave of aging power plants to switch from coal to natural gas.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/sponsored-content/api/energy-tomorrow/by-converting-to-natural-gas-old-coal-plants-get-a-second-lease-on-life-20150210
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