The Philo Power Plant was a 510 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 in

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...

Muskingum County, Ohio Muskingum County ( ) is a county located in the east-central portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,410. Its county seat is Zanesville. Nearly bisected by the Muskingum River, the county name is ba ...

. It was the first power plant in the United States to apply

steam reheat The Rankine cycle is an idealized thermodynamic cycle describing the process by which certain heat engines, such as steam turbines or reciprocating steam engines, allow mechanical work to be extracted from a fluid as it moves between a heat sourc ...

and

supercritical steam generator A supercritical steam generator is a type of boiler that operates at supercritical pressure and temperature, frequently used in the production of electric power. In contrast to a subcritical boiler in which steam bubbles form, a supercritical ...

technologies for its turbines. The plant had six units and its operations were handled by Ohio Power, a forerunner of

American Electric Power American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is an American domestic electric utility company in the United States. It is one of the largest electric utility companies in the country, with more than five mi ...

(AEP). It operated from 1924 until ceasing in 1975.

History

Construction of the Philo Power Plant began in 1922 with the plant designed by Sargent & Lundy. Philo began commercial generation with Unit 1 in 1924. This unit initially had a nameplate capacity of 35 MW from

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

's curtis

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

, but was raised to 40 MW after performing well on its test run. The turbine had a maximum pressure of and temperature of about . It was the first unit in the country that utilized

. Unit 1 was decommissioned and replaced by Unit 6 in 1957. Unit 2 was completed in 1925 and also had a nameplate capacity of 40 MW. The total cost of both units was $10 million. Unit 3 was completed in 1929 with a nameplate capacity of 165 MW. The total cost to construct Unit 3 was $17 million. Units 4 and 5 were completed in 1941 and 1942 respectively and each had a nameplate capacity of 85 MW.

Philo Unit 6

American Electric Power Headquarters Sculptures

Philo Unit 6 was the nation's first commercial

. The unit began commercial generation in 1957 with nameplate capacity of 120 MW. Its steam generator, designed and built by

Babcock & Wilcox Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. is an American energy technology and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Historically, the company is best known for their stea ...

, had a maximum pressure of and an operating temperature of about . Its

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

was designed and built by General Electric that made 3,600 rpm. The unit was able to demonstrate operations at ultrasupercritical levels, but due to the lack of metals able to tolerate the extreme temperatures, the levels were unsustainable. To support the new unit, a smokestack was erected. The total cost to construct Philo Unit 6 was approximately $19.5 million.

Operations

When Philo began operations, the plant maintained a

thermal efficiency In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency (\eta_) is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, steam turbine, steam engine, boiler, furnace, refrigerator, ACs etc. For ...

of 24% consuming 14,000

BTU The British thermal unit (Btu) is a measure of heat, which is a form of energy. It was originally defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. It is also part of the United Stat ...

. Coal used by the plant came by either rail or river barge. Most of the coal burned at Philo was mined within the State of Ohio with some coal coming from West Virginia. Water was sourced from the

Muskingum River The Muskingum River ( ; ) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country of Ohio ...

with its intake being above a dam and was discharged below the dam. At the time of its deactivation, 203 employees worked at the plant.

Closure and demolition

Philo was deactivated on May 31, 1975. The company cited declining electricity demand during the 1973–75 recession and the facility being surpassed by newer, more efficient power plants. The plant went on standby following deactivation with a single unit used to regulate voltage. Ohio Power remained optimistic that Philo would be reactivated. The plant was eventually demolished in 1983. After the Philo Power Plant was demolished, the rotors from the turbine from Unit 6 were utilized in a sculpture created by George Greenamyer. The sculpture was unveiled in October 1983 as a part of a

landscape design Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...

project for the newly built

AEP Building The AEP Building is a skyscraper in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. It was completed in 1983 and has 31 floors. Abramovitz, Harris & Kingsland designed the building following a modernist architectural style. The AEP Building is the 8th tallest build ...

located in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

References

{{Public art in Columbus, Ohio Energy infrastructure completed in 1924 Energy infrastructure completed in 1925 Energy infrastructure completed in 1929 Energy infrastructure completed in 1941 Energy infrastructure completed in 1942 Energy infrastructure completed in 1957 Buildings and structures in Muskingum County, Ohio Former coal-fired power stations in Ohio Outdoor sculptures in Columbus, Ohio 1924 establishments in Ohio 1975 disestablishments in Ohio Demolished buildings and structures in Ohio Buildings and structures demolished in 1983 American Electric Power

History

Philo Unit 6

Operations

Closure and demolition

See also

References