The Riverside Generating Station is a 261 MW
electric generating station operated by
Exelon
Exelon Corporation is an American public utility headquartered in Chicago, and incorporated in Pennsylvania. Exelon is the largest electric parent company in the United States by revenue and is the largest regulated electric utility in the Uni ...
that is located at 4000 Broening Highway in
Dundalk
Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...
,
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 ...
. The station is on Sollers Point on the
Patapsco River
The Patapsco River ( ) mainstem is a river in central Maryland that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal portion forms the harbor for the city of Baltimore. With its South Branch, the Patapsco forms the northern border of Howar ...
.
Plant description
Riverside consists of Unit 4, a
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 ...
-fired steam electric unit with a nominal capacity of 78 MW, Unit 5, an 85 MW steam generating unit, Unit 6, a 135 MW natural gas and
fuel oil
Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...
-fired gas turbine, and Units 7 and 8, each 25 MW natural gas-fired gas turbines.
Water from the Patapsco River is used as the heat sink of the condensers of the steam turbines.
History
The site of the Riverside Generating Station was originally purchased by the Consolidated Gas and Light Company of Baltimore, a predecessor company to Constellation Energy, in 1922 for the location of a
manufactured gas
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the
secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...
facility that was never built.
In 1942, the 60 MW steam turbine and boiler Unit 1 was installed at a cost of US$6.5 million.
Two additional 60 MW steam electric units, Unit 2 and Unit 3, were placed in service in 1944 and 1948,
and Units 4 and 5 entering commercial operation in 1951. Units 1, 2, 3, and 5 were shut down in 1993.
In 2008, authorization was granted to modify and reactivate Unit 5 to operate only on natural gas at an estimated cost of US$25 million.
Constellation Energy merged with Exelon in 2012. Exelon announced plans to shut down Unit 4 by mid-2016.
Operations
Exelon normally operates the Riverside Generating Station as a
peaking power 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 powe ...
. As the mid-Maryland region is a summer peaking load, most of the plant's operating time will be during hot summer days. The Riverside Generating Station is dispatched by the
PJM Interconnection regional transmission organization
A regional transmission organization (RTO) in the United States is an electric power transmission system operator (TSO) that coordinates, controls, and monitors a multi-state electric grid. The transfer of electricity between states is consider ...
.
See also
*
List of power stations in Maryland
References
External links
Exelon - Riverside Generating Station
{{Coord, 39, 14, 18, N, 76, 30, 56, W, region:US-MD_type:landmark, display=title
Energy infrastructure completed in 1942
Energy infrastructure completed in 1944
Energy infrastructure completed in 1948
Energy infrastructure completed in 1951
Buildings and structures in Baltimore County, Maryland
Dundalk, Maryland
Natural gas-fired power stations in Maryland
Exelon
1942 establishments in Maryland