St. Johns River Power Park

Until it closed in January 2018, the St. Johns River Power Park (SJRPP) was a large coal-fired electric generating plant featuring two turbine/generators that supplied 632,000 KW to the transmission grid. The facility was jointly owned by JEA – 80% share, and Florida Power and Light – 20% portion. An additional long term Purchase Power Agreement between the two utilities allowed each to share the power output and operating expenses equally as a 50/50 split.

The decommissioned plant is located on a 1,600 acre site in the northeast section of Jacksonville, Florida.  Much of that land will soon be up for sale. Coal to fuel the plant was supplied primarily from Columbia, South America. It was shipped to SJRPP and unloaded at a Blount Island facility owned and operated by the plant. At maximum capacity SJRPP consumed approximately 4.5 million tons of coal per year.

When the plant was constructed in the early 1980s, it was the largest construction project in Jacksonville's history.  It took took six years to build at a cost of $1.45 billion. Unit 1 began commercial production March 27, 1987. Unit 2 was completed a year later and began its operation May 27, 1988.  Many longtime employees began working at the plant before it opened and did not leave until it closed 30 years later.  The plant's history is captured in this video:

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