The Charles P. Crane Generating Station was a 400 megawatt ( MW)

coal power plant A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...

located on the Carroll Island Road in Bowleys Quarters,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, east of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. The power plant was operated by C.P. Crane, LLC, a subsidiary of Avenue Capital Group. The station had two coal-fired generating units, rated at 190 and 209 MW nominal capacity, and powered by cyclone steam boilers. It also had a 16 MW oil-fired

combustion turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the direction of flow: ...

. The Crane station occupies on the Middle River Neck Peninsula adjacent to the Seneca Creek tributary of the

Gunpowder River The Gunpowder River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tidal inlet on the western side of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, United States. It is formed by t ...

, and is on the rural side of the

Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland. The county is part of the Central Maryland region of the state. Baltimore County partly surrounds but does not include the independent city ...

Urban Rural Demarcation Line. The plant was closed in June 2018 and demolished via

building implosion A building or edifice is an enclosed structure with a roof, walls and windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout ...

in August 2022.

Coal delivery

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

was delivered to the generating station by a dedicated

rail spur A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

used by the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

that connects to

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C., in the south, with major stops in Providence, Rhod ...

line. Regulatory approval to construct facilities allowing delivery by barge using a dredged channel from the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

was granted in 2006. The cyclone boilers required the use of medium-sulfur, low-fusion coal, which was supplied mainly using North Appalachian Pittsburgh Seam 8 coal. The station used approximately 950,000 tons of coal each year.

History

The two cyclone boiler units were originally oil-fired. Unit 1 went into operation in 1961 and unit 2 in 1963. These two units were initially fueled by eastern bituminous coal, then modified to use fuel oil as their primary fuel following an order by the

Department of Energy A ministry of energy or department of energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rela ...

under the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974. They were then converted back to coal in 1980, with the addition of the second and third utility sized baghouses in the US, the first being at Brunner Island Steam Electric Station. The station was named for Charles P. Crane, who from 1950 to 1957 was president of the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, the predecessor company of

Constellation Energy Constellation Energy Corporation is an American energy company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The company provides electric power, natural gas, and energy management services. It has approximately two million customers across the conti ...

, and its chairman from 1955 to 1961.

2012 sale

On August 9, 2012, Exelon announced that it had reached an agreement, subject to regulatory approvals, for the sale of the Charles P. Crane, Brandon Shores, and Herbert A. Wagner Generating Stations to Raven Power Holdings LLC, a newly formed portfolio company of Riverstone Holdings LLC. Exelon had committed to divest the plants as condition for regulatory approval of its merger with Constellation Energy to alleviate concerns regarding potential

market power In economics, market power refers to the ability of a theory of the firm, firm to influence the price at which it sells a product or service by manipulating either the supply or demand of the product or service to increase economic profit. In othe ...

in the regional wholesale

electricity market An electricity market is a system that enables the exchange of electrical energy, through an electrical grid. Historically, electricity has been primarily sold by companies that operate electric generators, and purchased by consumers or electr ...

. The sale was completed on November 30, 2012.

Talen Energy and 2016 sale

Talen Energy assumed ownership of the plant on June 1, 2015, when the company was established as the combination of Riverstone Holdings, LLC with PPL Corporation's spun off power generation business. As a condition of the merger, Talen was required by FERC to sell about 1,300 MW of generation in the PJM region to avoid dominating the market. Talen announced on October 23, 2015, that the C.P. Crane plant would be sold in early 2016 to an affiliate of Avenue Capital Group as one of its divestitures to fulfill the FERC order. The sale was completed on February 16, 2016, at which time the plant began operating as C.P. Crane, LLC.

Closure

Crane's owners filed a deactivation notice with

PJM Interconnection PJM Interconnection LLC (PJM) is a regional transmission organization (RTO) in the United States. It is part of the Eastern Interconnection grid operating an electric transmission system serving all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Ke ...

in November 2016. The plant was closed on June 1, 2018. Although the owners considered retrofitting the plant with

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

generators, these plans were abandoned in 2022 in favor of demolition. The plant was imploded on August 19, 2022, after which its owners proposed a plan to build 285 townhouses on the site of the plant. Baltimore County councilmember David Marks, whose district included the plant, proposed turning the area into a park, which began to gain support from other area politicians, including U.S. representative

Dutch Ruppersberger Charles Albert "Dutch" Ruppersberger III ( ; born January 31, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2003 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as an assistant state attorney o ...

and Baltimore County executive

Johnny Olszewski John Anthony Olszewski Jr. ( ; born September 10, 1982), also known by his nickname Johnny O, is an American politician who has served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 2nd congressional district since 2025. A memb ...

. In September 2024, the county council unanimously voted to use $10 million in state open space funds to purchase the area with intentions to develop it into a park.

References

External links

Raven Power - C.P. Crane Plant
{{Power stations in Maryland Energy infrastructure completed in 1961 Energy infrastructure completed in 1963 1961 establishments in Maryland 2018 disestablishments in Maryland Buildings and structures in Baltimore County, Maryland Former coal-fired power stations in the United States Exelon Former power stations in Maryland