Electric Facilities

JEA owns five power plant sites in Jacksonville, has an ownership interest in a power plant in Georgia, and purchases power from several solar fields and landfill gas facilities. JEA also builds, operates and maintains countless substations needed to bring you reliable power.  
 

 
Click on one of the links below to learn about each of our energy generating facilities:

• Brandy Branch Generating Station
• Northside Generating Station 
• Kennedy Generating Station
• St. Johns River Power Park 
• Greenland Energy Center
• Plant Scherer
• Solar Energy 
• Nuclear Purchase Agreements

Fuel Diversity

Over four decades ago, JEA made a commitment to produce electricity with a diverse fuel source. Diversity in fuel mix is very important in providing reliable, economical and environmentally-sound electricity.

In the 1970s, JEA produced electricity using just one type of fuel, oil. In 1973, the oil embargo caused the price of oil per barrel to quadruple. For many years, JEA customers benefited from the production of electricity using solid fuel. Natural gas prices were high and solid fuel was economical. A couple of years ago, natural gas prices plummeted, and JEA was able to meet the electric demands of our customers at a low cost. The 2014 Polar Vortex then caused natural gas prices to skyrocket. The market price for fuel fluctuates based on demand.  

JEA now has a diverse generation fleet by using solid fuel, natural gas and some solar and biogas. In addition, JEA will have nuclear power through a purchase power agreement by 2021. This allows JEA to produce electricity based on economics. And these savings are passed on to our customers. 

Brandy Branch Generating Station 

The Brandy Branch Generating Station (BBGS) houses three natural gas combustion turbines and has a heat recovery steam generator to recover excess heat from two of the turbines (called combined-cycle). This allows JEA to produce nearly 50 percent more electricity with no additional fuel costs and virtually no new emissions. Total site capacity is approximately 640 MW in the summer and 760 MW in the winter.
Learn More About Our Combustion Turbine Facilities

Northside Generating Station

The Northside Generating Station (NGS) uses natural gas, fuel oil, coal and petroleum coke in three large steam units and four small diesel-powered peaking units to produce more than 1300 MW of peak electric capacity. NGS boasts two of the largest Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustors (CFBs) in the world that are both clean and fuel-diverse, affording JEA the flexibility to utilize the most economic fuel choices while still achieving exceptional emission levels. NGS is also among the cleanest solid fuel plants in the world. NGS was originally placed into service in 1966, but the oldest unit currently operating (Unit 3) was completed in 1977.
Learn More About Northside Generating Station

Kennedy Generating Station

The Kennedy Generating Station uses natural gas with diesel fuel as backup, in two large combustion turbines. Power for Jacksonville has been produced at the KGS site since 1912. Of course, the units in service today are not nearly that old. The two units in operation today were installed in 2000 and 2009. Total site capacity today is approximately 300 MW.
Learn More About Our Combustion Turbine Facilities

St. Johns River Power Park

The St. Johns River Power Park (SJRPP) decommissioned in early January 2018. The plant and its employees reliably served Jacksonville for nearly 30 years, however homes and businesses are now more energy efficient and customers are using less electricity. By closing the plant, JEA will increase its asset utilization and save millions of dollars every year. That money will pay down debt and be directed toward capital improvement projects to benefit all customers. The decommissioning will also keep rates stable longer. JEA will keep 100 of the nearly 2000 acres around the power park for a possible future natural gas plant. The rest of the property, including 30 acres on Blount Island used to off-load coal, will be sold. JEA decreased its carbon footprint by 30 percent in closing the plant and taking down the two large cooling towers.
Learn More About St. Johns River Power Park

Greenland Energy Center

Greenland Energy Center began operation in 2011. Located in the Florida 9A/9B connection corridor area, it is JEA’s first new generation site south and east of the St. Johns River in more than 50 years. It will assist in meeting our customers’ future electricity needs and significantly improve electric reliability during peak load periods. Like KGS, the GEC facility uses natural gas in two large combustion turbines to generate 300 MW. The clean-burning natural gas turbines provide electricity with a low air emission output, and are also capable of using ultra-low sulfur diesel as a backup fuel. In the future, conversion to a combined-cycle unit will allow for increased output production and improved efficiency by using heat already produced during the process.
Learn More About Our Combustion Turbine Facilities

Plant Scherer

Plant Scherer, located near Macon, Georgia, is operated by the Georgia Power Company. Unit 4, one of the four steam units located at the site, is partially owned by JEA. Unit 4 uses coal to produce JEA's 200 MW portion of electricity output, which is delivered to Jacksonville over large, high-voltage electric transmission lines.

Solar

Today’s energy landscape is changing, and JEA is leading the way. We’ve been a pioneer in bringing solar energy to Jacksonville since the 1990s. JEA is embarking on a major expansion that will increase our current solar energy offerings by 350 percent. Through the creation of five new local solar farms, JEA will soon provide up to 300 MW of solar power – making Jacksonville one of the leading solar cities in the nation.
Learn More About Our Solar Farms 

Nuclear Purchase Agreements 

Adding power from nuclear sources to our portfolio is part of a strategy to make the utility less dependent on fossil fuels. We plan to purchase 200 Megawatts (MW) of power from Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) from a new nuclear facility to be constructed at the existing Plant Vogtle, and slated to be operational by 2021. We will not own the facility, but plan to buy power from the Waynesboro, Georgia plant for 20 years. 

In 2011, we reserved the option to acquire partial ownership of two new nuclear units to be constructed at an existing plant owned by Duke Energy located in Cherokee County, South Carolina. If we exercise the option, it would bring enough electricity to power about 175,000 homes in our community in typical conditions.

Nuclear power is an alternative that will lower our overall carbon footprint. Nuclear energy provides almost 20 percent of the nation’s electricity and is the number one source of emission-free electricity.