The Canal Generating Plant is a

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

Sandwich, Massachusetts Sandwich is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, and is the oldest town on Cape Cod. The town motto is ''Post tot Naufracia Portus'', "after so many shipwrecks, a haven". The population was 20,259 at the 2020 census. History Cape Cod wa ...

. Canal 1, a baseload unit, began operation in 1968 and was for many years the most efficient oil burning plant in the US. Canal 2, a cycling unit began operation in the mid-1970s. The plant was bought by

Mirant GenOn Energy Holdings, formerly Mirant Corporation, was a subsidiary of GenOn Energy, and is now a part of NRG Energy. The company was spun off from its former parent, Southern Company, on April 2, 2001. The company was merged into GenOn Energy o ...

in 1999, now

GenOn Energy Holdings GenOn Energy Holdings, formerly Mirant Corporation, was a subsidiary of GenOn Energy, and is now a part of NRG Energy. The company was spun off from its former parent, Southern Company, on April 2, 2001. The company was merged into GenOn Energy o ...

division of

NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in energ ...

. It is located on

Cape Cod Canal The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts connecting Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south, and is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The approximately canal traverses the neck o ...

. In its heyday, the Canal plant generated the vast majority of the Cape's power, but today functions only as a

peaking plant Peaking power plants, also known as peaker plants, and occasionally just "peakers", are power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peak demand, for electricity. Because they supply power only occasionally, the power ...

. In an attempt to modernize the plant, the owners constructed a 330-megawatt

Simple cycle In graph theory, a cycle in a graph is a non-empty trail in which only the first and last vertices are equal. A directed cycle in a directed graph is a non-empty directed trail in which only the first and last vertices are equal. A graph witho ...

natural gas plant capable of going online within 10 minutes, and a 1.5 MW solar array on the property. The third unit has the ability to run on #2 oil during cold periods in the winter when natural gas pipelines are constrained. In 2018 it was sold to private equity firm Ironclad Energy, a subsidiary of Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Mirant plant's future on the line
(October 2010)
Cape Cod Commission decision to permit storage of aqueous ammonia on site
(February 2005)
EPA draft decision regarding discharge of cooling water into Cape Cod Canal
(2009) 1968 establishments in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Sandwich, Massachusetts Cape Cod Canal Energy infrastructure completed in 1968 Natural gas-fired power stations in Massachusetts Oil-fired power stations in Massachusetts