WA Parish Generating Station
W.A. Parish Generating Station | |
---|---|
![]() W.A. Parish, seen from northwest of the facility | |
![]() | |
Country | United States |
Location | Thompsons, Texas |
Coordinates | 29°28′34″N 95°38′0″W / 29.47611°N 95.63333°WCoordinates: 29°28′34″N 95°38′0″W / 29.47611°N 95.63333°W |
Status | Operational |
Owner(s) | NRG Energy |
Thermal power station | |
Primary fuel | Coal |
Secondary fuel | Natural gas |
Cooling source | Smithers Lake |
Power generation | |
Nameplate capacity | 3,653 MW |
External links | |
Commons | Related media on Commons |
The W.A. Parish Generating Station is a 3.65-gigawatt (3,653 MW), dual-fired power plant located near Thompsons, Texas. The station occupies a 4,664-acre site near Smithers Lake southwest of Houston in Fort Bend County and consists of two four-unit plants; one natural gas and the other coal (2,697 MW).[1] With a total installed capacity of 3,653 MW, it is the second largest conventional power station in the US.[2] NRG Energy owns and operates the plant.[1]
The multiple coal mines supply three 124-car trainloads worth of low-sulfur coal to units 5-8 or 36,000 tons daily.
Completed in January 2017, the post-combustion[3] Petra Nova Carbon Capture Project became largest installed on an existing power plant in the world.[4][5] The system pumps 1.6 million tons of filtered carbon dioxide (CO2) from unit 8 to the West Ranch Oil Field 82 miles away in Jackson County.[6][7] Overall as the system is powered by natural gas it will have a net effect of not releasing 785,000 tons of carbon annually.[8] The system cost approximately $1 billion.[9]
Adjacent to Parish Station is the natural gas Brazos Valley Power Plant owned by Calpine Energy which opened in 2003.[10]
During the 2021 Texas power crisis, Parish Station was reported to have experienced up to a 664 MW loss in generation capacity, including an 80 MW decrease in capacity early in the crisis that contributed to the need for rolling blackouts.[11]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ a b "Texas Sets Record for Gas Power Burn, Still Barely Enough". Power Magazine. August 18, 2015.
- ^ "S&P Global : Platts : W.A. Parish Electric Generation Station, Thompson, Texas". Online.platts.com. Archived from the original on October 14, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
- ^ "Carbon Capture Suffers a Huge Setback as Kemper Plant Suspends Work". June 29, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
- ^ "World's Largest Carbon-Capture Plant to Open Soon". Scientific American. October 4, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
- ^ "Petra Nova Project| NRG Energy". Nrg.com. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
- ^ Kirk, Bryan (September 2, 2014). "Parish Power Plant takes steps to clean up its operations in Fort Bend Count". Chron.com. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
- ^ https://sequestration.mit.edu/tools/projects/wa_parish.html
- ^ Wang, Ucilia (July 15, 2014). "NRG's $1B Bet To Show How Carbon Capture Could Be Feasible For Coal Power Plants". Forbes.
- ^ Ryan Maye Handy (January 10, 2017). "NRG begins commercial operations of $1 billion carbon capture system". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ Seshadri Kumar (April 5, 2004). "Brazos Valley power plant turns on lights". Chron.com. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
- ^ Patel, Sonal (March 4, 2021). "ERCOT Lists Generators Forced Offline During Texas Extreme Cold Event". POWER Magazine. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
External links[]
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to WA Parish Generating Station. |
- Coal-fired power stations in Texas
- Buildings and structures in Fort Bend County, Texas
- Natural gas-fired power stations in Texas