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Feb. 21, 2001
JEA Northside Repowering Project Reaches Major Milestone
Jacksonville - At 9:24 p.m. Tuesday evening, JEA's Northside Generating Station Unit 2 produced electricity for the very first time in its new, "repowered" configuration. The unit produced power for slightly more than five hours in its first real test.
The $630 million Northside Repowering Project is converting two old, inefficient units fueled by oil or gas, to new, state-of-the-art circulating fluidized bed (CFB) combustors. The conversion will increase power output at the plant, improve energy efficiency, reduce air emissions, and help keep electric rates low and stable well into the future in Jacksonville. At approximately 300 MegaWatts (MW) each, these are the two largest CFB boilers in the world.
The new units employing CFB technology are so much cleaner than the old units that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has contributed more than $70 million from its Clean Coal Technology Program to help fund the project. The state-of-the-art, cleaner technology also enabled JEA to make a commitment to the Jacksonville community that the entire plant would release at least 10% less of the three main air emissions (sulfur dioxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter) while simultaneously producing two-and-a-half times the power it produced before the project.
In a recent invitation to President Bush to visit JEA's Northside Generating Station, Mayor Delaney wrote, "This clean coal project is an excellent example of how your national energy policy and environmental goals can be achieved without disrupting economic growth." The White House is still considering a visit to the power plant by the President.
Unit 1 is expected to begin producing electricity in April.
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