Lower Mount Bethel Energy Plant

PPL's newest power plant is a 582-megawatt natural-gas-fired facility in eastern Pennsylvania, adjacent to the company's Martins Creek plant on a 750-acre site in Lower Mount Bethel Township in Northampton County, Pa., along the west bank of the Delaware River and about 15 miles north of Easton.

Completed in spring 2004, the plant consists of two combustion turbine generators, two heat-recovery steam generators and one steam turbine generator.

Combined-cycle combustion turbines burn natural gas to generate power and produce steam that is directed to a steam turbine to generate additional power. This design is among the most efficient in today’s market and, in combination with the use of natural gas, results in minimal environmental impact.

Selective catalytic reduction — the best available technology — keeps nitrous oxide emissions at a minimum. Additional equipment limits emissions of carbon monoxide.

Lower Mount Bethel Energy also uses many of the Martins Creek plant's services, including water supply and wastewater disposal facilities, minimizing the effect on the environment. No transmission system upgrades were necessary to accommodate the project.

The plant meets the growing electricity demand in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, providing these states' economies with power that is reliable, efficient and readily available.

The plant employs 23 people full time.

Upriver from the plant site, PPL manages hiking trails along a scenic stretch of the Delaware as part of the Martins Creek Environmental Preserve.

The Martins Creek power plant has two coal-fired units and two units that can be fueled by either natural gas or oil. The coal units are scheduled to be shut down or repowered in September 2007.