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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 Units 1 and 2 went into service in fall 2009, part of a three-year project and an $800 million investment in the Brunner Island plant. The Unit 3 scrubber began operating earlier in 2009.
Scrubbers 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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Work resumes on York Haven bypass
The spring weather has enabled PPL to resume work on the bypass road around residential areas of York Haven.
“We appreciate our neighbors’ patience and understanding as we complete this project,” said Steve Marbaise, Brunner Island plant manager. “The bypass road addresses a major concern in the community by safely rerouting truck traffic around York Haven.”
In March, PPL began installing additional storm drains and removing boulders. Paving on the road resumed in April; the final section of asphalt was laid for the intersection of Wago Road and Front Street. Efforts are being made to minimize erosion and environmental effects along the road.
The road, nearly a mile in length, will start just off the north end of Brunner Island and reconnect with Route 382 west of York Haven. Route 382 will be widened near the entrance as part of the work.
River Road will be closed during the remainder of the project, requiring a detour from Route 382 to Cly Road (Route 262). As the project moves toward completion, the intersection at Front and Locust streets (at Shelley’s Restaurant) will be closed.
There will be signs directing motorists to a detour for access onto Brunner Island. And the intersection will be open and passable for residents living in the apartments along Front Street and near Shelley’s.
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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Cool operation begins at Brunner Island
New cooling towers minimize impact on Susquehanna River
Operators at the Brunner Island power plant in York County began using innovative new cooling towers in April 2010.
Completed at the end of 2009, the cooling towers at Brunner Island are among the largest forced-draft cooling towers in the world and will help the plant protect aquatic life by reducing the temperature of water discharges to the Susquehanna River.
“PPL operates its plants in an environmentally responsible manner,” said Steve Marbaise, plant manager. “The cooling towers will ensure the plant minimizes its impact on the environment by reducing the temperature of the water discharged into the Susquehanna River from spring through fall, when it can have the most benefit for aquatic life.”
The $100 million investment in the cooling towers is one of the more visible projects among several that improved the plant’s overall environmental performance. In addition to the cooling towers, the plant recently completed the installation of scrubbers that significantly reduce sulfur dioxide emissions; new treatment facilities for wastewater from the scrubbers; and new electrostatic precipitators at Units 2 and 3 to reduce particulate emissions.
Combined, these projects represent an investment of more than $860 million on new pollution controls at the plant, which generates enough electricity each year to power about 1 million typical homes and provides more than 250 fulltime jobs for area residents.
Plant operators will use the cooling towers during the warmest nine months of the year, from March through November in subsequent years. The towers will reduce temperature increases during those months when the river levels are lower and water temperature
is naturally higher.
From December through February, the warm water discharge has no adverse impacts to aquatic life. In fact, discharge of warm water into the river during the winter creates a popular winter fishery at Brunner Island.
The cooling towers have four large vertical pumps operated by 3,500- horsepower motors. The pumps deliver more than a half million gallons of water through 34 cooling cells every minute. Each cell has a fan that can be operated from digital displays in the plant’s control room. Operators can adjust the speed and number of fans running based on the amount of water being discharged from the plant.
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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. | | |