Rockport Generating Station is a coal-fired power plant, located along the Ohio River in Ohio Township, Spencer County, Indiana, in the United States, near Rockport. The power plant is located along U.S. Route 231 (segment known as the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Parkway), approximately one mile north of the

William H. Natcher Bridge The William H. Natcher Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that carries U.S. Highway 231 over the Ohio River. The bridge connects Owensboro, Kentucky to Rockport, Indiana and opened on October 21, 2002. It is named in honor of William Huston Natch ...

, spanning the Ohio River. It is operated by Indiana Michigan Power, a subsidiary of

American Electric Power American Electric Power (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is a major investor-owned electric utility in the United States, delivering electricity to more than five million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation's largest gen ...

History

Two identical non-cyclonic

Babcock & Wilcox Babcock & Wilcox is an American renewable, environmental and thermal energy technologies and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets across the globe with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio, USA. Historicall ...

units (1,300 MW each) were launched into service in December 1984 and December 1988. They are among the largest coal units built. The plant is connected to the grid by 765 kilovolt transmission lines (the highest rated voltage used in the United States). The power plant features the tallest smokestack in Indiana, and is one of the tallest smokestacks in the world at .

Coal supply

The coal is delivered to the plant by

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...

s along the Ohio River. The plant burns in excess of seven million

short tons The short ton (symbol tn) is a measurement unit equal to . It is commonly used in the United States, where it is known simply as a ton, although the term is ambiguous, the single word being variously used for short, long, and metric ton. The vari ...

of coal a year. To minimize cost, AEP announced in February 2018 that Rockport will rely solely on coal from 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 ...

in Wyoming.

Retirement

In July 2019, AEP announced that Rockport's Unit 1 will retire by the end of 2028. This was made in an agreement modification between AEP, the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...

(EPA), several northeastern states, the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, w ...

, and other parties. The agreement allows AEP to achieve emission reduction goals while also shutting down Unit 1 without adding costly pollution control systems. In April, 2021 AEP announced that Rockport's Unit 2 will also be retired by the end of 2028.

References

External links

Chimney Diagram
{{Supertall chimneys Energy infrastructure completed in 1984 Towers completed in 1984 Energy infrastructure completed in 1989 Towers in Indiana Coal-fired power stations in Indiana Buildings and structures in Spencer County, Indiana Southwestern Indiana Chimneys in the United States American Electric Power

History

Coal supply

Retirement

See also

References

External links