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The Brunner Island power plant makes electricity by burning coal, our nation’s most abundant energy source. Burning coal produces steam that turns a turbine that spins a generator to make electricity.
It starts with coal. The Brunner Island plant burns more than 3 million tons of coal per year. Coal is crushed into a fine powder and burned in large boilers, where water is heated to make steam. Brunner Island has three boilers.
The steam passes through turbines. Each turbine has rings of fan-like metal blades. As steam passes over the blades, the turbines turn very fast.
The turbines have a central metal shaft that is connected to a generator, where an electromagnet spins inside a ring of copper wire to produce electricity.
When the steam has done its work, it is cooled by water from the Susquehanna River, turns back into water, and is pumped back to the boiler to begin the cycle all over again. | | 
Scrubbers are environmental controls that remove nearly all of the sulfur dioxide from the emissions of coal-fired power plants.
They work by spraying a mixture of crushed limestone and water onto the exhaust gas before it goes out the plant’s chimney. The limestone and water react with the sulfur in the plant’s exhaust to form synthetic gypsum, which will be collected and shipped to a company that manufactures drywall.
Two scrubbers are being built at the Brunner Island plant. These scrubbers will handle all of the exhaust from the plant’s three boilers. The scrubber for Unit 3 will be completed in 2008. The scrubber for Units 1 and 2 will be completed in 2009.
Work on the scrubbers is now about 25 percent complete.
Scrubbers will remove about 100,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per year from emissions at Brunner Island. Sulfur dioxide contributes to acid rain and respiratory problems.
In addition to improving air quality, the scrubbers will enable the Brunner Island plant to operate for many years to come. | |
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Brunner Island hosts police training exercise
When local law enforcement agencies practice their emergency plans, employees at PPL’s Brunner Island power plant are ready to help. Members of the York County Quick Response Team recently conducted a training exercise on the grounds of plant property outside the fence to sharpen their skills in case of a real emergency.
“We’re always ready to fulfill our agreement to help local police and fire departments,” said Rob Foltz, safety, health and environmental compliance manager at Brunner Island. “We make every effort to be a good neighbor in the community. An important part of that effort is support for local firefighters and other organizations that provide emergency services,” he said.
The Brunner Island power plant has a long-standing commitment to local police and fire departments, providing opportunities for training and funding for equipment and programs that promote safety.
As a corporation, and as individuals, we understand our responsibility to do the right thing. Read PPL’s Corporate Responsibility Report.
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Wago Road project an issue of safety and security
Based on concerns for plant security and safety, PPL is seeking approval from the state Department of Transportation for a plan to privatize the portion of Wago Road that passes in front of the Brunner Island power plant.
If PennDOT approves the proposal, PPL plans to put up gates, closing the road to regular traffic. The gates would be raised to allow emergency vehicles to pass through as needed. Regular traffic would have to pass through York Haven to reach the East Manchester Township recreation fields and the PPL boat launch from the south.
“With the expansion of the plant caused by our scrubbers, we now have operations on both sides of the road — in effect the road runs right through the middle of the power plant,” said Steve Marbaise, Brunner Island plant manager.
“We’re sympathetic to the concerns expressed by our neighbors and municipal officials about our plans to close Wago Road for public use near the plant,” Marbaise said. “But we have to consider the safety and security of our plant coexisting with motorists who use the road.”
Recent plant improvements will result in increased train and truck delivery of limestone and gypsum, which will increase traffic at the railroad crossing south of the plant entrance, he said.
He pledged to keep lines of communication open with plant neighbors as the project unfolds. “It’s never easy to make a change like this, but we have made this proposal with safety in mind, and I hope everyone will understand that. My phone line is always open to talk with people about this or any other issue related to Brunner Island’s operation.” |
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Brunner Island scrubber gets to work helping the environment
The white cloudlike emissions coming from the new chimney stack at the Brunner Island power plant mean that the plant’s first scrubber is operating, enabling Unit 3 to generate power with almost no sulfur dioxide emissions and significantly lower mercury emissions.
The unit’s scrubber is now operating as designed, thanks to plant employees who safely made the final connections between the plant and the scrubber during a recent maintenance outage.
The white plume coming from the stack contains mostly water vapor, the result of the moisture created by the wet scrubber process. The byproduct of the scrubbing process, synthetic gypsum, will be sold for use in manufacturing wallboard.
In its first partial year of operation, the Montour scrubber system decreased sulfur dioxide emissions by more than 85,000 tons. The scrubbers and other environmental improvements at Montour and Brunner Island represent a combined $1.6 billion voluntary investment by PPL in environmental upgrades for its coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania.
PPL also is making significant investments to increase generation from sources that do not use fossil fuels. |
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Did you know PPL offers hundreds of free environmental education programs each year at its preserves? Keep track of what is going on in your area by following us on Twitter or check out the calendar of events at www.pplpreserves.com.
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PPL’s Brunner Island power plant has been part of the northeastern York County community for 45 years. We believe it’s important to be a good and responsible neighbor. The electricity we generate each year is enough to power more than 1 million homes. To reduce the plant’s impact on air and water quality, PPL is investing more than $800 million in environmental improvements.
Our employees – more than 240 in all – support many community activities in their spare time. The plant has recreational facilities for community use, including an environmental preserve where you can fish, boat or hike through prime habitat for local wildlife. | |
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Giving back to communities is PPL’s way of doing business. Matters that are important to the people who live near the Brunner Island plant are important to us.
We look to build lasting partnerships and find constructive solutions. That’s why PPL is a member of the Trendsetter Giving Society of Northeastern School District, why we have funded a traffic safety program with Newberry Township police, and why we developed recreation fields for East Manchester Township.
Part of giving back is the plant’s effect on the local economy, which includes school, municipal and county tax payments of about $500,000 a year. | | |