Martin Lake Power Plant is a 2,250-

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

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 southwest of Tatum,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, in Rusk County, Texas. The plant is owned by Luminant. It began operations in 1977. The plant is also served by the Luminant owned Martin Lake Line, shuttling coal from nearby as well as the

Powder River Basin The Powder River Basin is a geologic structural basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its extensive coal reserves. The former hunting grounds of the Oglala Lakota, the area is very ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

via

BNSF BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide ...

History

The plant consists of three units. Unit 1 was commissioned in 1977, Unit 2 in 1978, and Unit 3 in 1979. All three, when first activated, each unit had a capacity of 750 MW. Plans for a fourth, 858 MW coal unit at Martin Lake was formally cancelled in 1986. A man-made lake was created for the plant's cooling source. Martin Lake was retrofitted with

selective catalytic reduction Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) means converting nitrogen oxides, also referred to as with the aid of a catalyst into diatomic nitrogen (), and water (). A reductant, typically anhydrous ammonia (), aqueous ammonia (), or a urea () soluti ...

(SCR) systems by Fluor in 2008 to reduce

nitrogen oxide Nitrogen oxide may refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds: Charge-neutral *Nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen(II) oxide, or nitrogen monoxide * Nitrogen dioxide (), nitrogen(IV) oxide * Nitrogen trioxide (), o ...

() emissions. Martin Lake receives its energy from nearby

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

mines and coal from the

in Wyoming. Martin Lake used to receive lignite from the Oak Hill and Beckville Mines in nearby Rusk and

Panola Panola may refer to: * Panola, Crenshaw County, Alabama, an unincorporated community in Crenshaw County * Panola, Sumter County, Alabama, a census-designated place in Sumter County * Panola County, Mississippi * Panola County, Texas * Panola, Illin ...

Counties until their closures. One of Martin Lake's units was idled in September 2013 due to low electricity prices. The unit was restarted in March 2014 as electricity prices rose during the 2014 North American cold wave.

Incidents

In February 2017, a contractor died in an accident at the site.

References

External links

Luminant page for Martin Lake Power Plant
Energy infrastructure completed in 1977 Energy infrastructure completed in 1978 Energy infrastructure completed in 1979 Coal-fired power stations in Texas Buildings and structures in Rusk County, Texas Vistra Corp {{US-powerstation-stub

History

Incidents

See also

References

External links