Mystic Generating Station

Last updated
Mystic Generating Station
Mystic Station Power Plant.jpg
Mystic Generating Station from across the Mystic River
Mystic Generating Station
CountryUnited States
Location Everett, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°23′29″N71°04′01″W / 42.39139°N 71.06694°W / 42.39139; -71.06694 Coordinates: 42°23′29″N71°04′01″W / 42.39139°N 71.06694°W / 42.39139; -71.06694
StatusOperational
Owner(s) Constellation Energy
Operator(s)Constellation Energy
Power generation
Nameplate capacity 1,998 MW [1]
External links
Website Official Website
Commons Related media on Commons

The Mystic Generating Station is a power station in the state of Massachusetts (on the border between Everett and Boston) which has the highest nameplate capacity of any station in the state. [2] It is capable of burning both natural gas and petroleum, but mostly burns natural gas. [1]

Contents

The plant currently consists of eight separate generating units; Mystic 8 and 9 are combined cycle natural gas units with a total of four combustion turbines and two steam turbines which can produce 1414 MW total, Mystic 7 is a natural gas or petroleum unit which produces 576 MW, and Mystic Jet is small petroleum fueled unit which produces 8.6 MW in periods of high demand. [1] Mystic Station is scheduled to retire in mid-2024.

History

A circa-1960s aerial view showing Mystic 4-6 in operation Aerial view of Mystic Generating Station, circa 1960s.jpg
A circa-1960s aerial view showing Mystic 4–6 in operation

In the mid 1990s, the state of Massachusetts began to deregulate the electrical market. [3] This led to the sale of the Mystic Generating Station to Sithe Energies who started a large capital investment in the construction of Mystic 8 and 9 which was completed in 2003. [4] Sithe was acquired by Exelon in late 2003 [5] who ran into financial difficulties which resulted in BNP Paribas taking control of the station. BNP Paribas sold the station soon after its acquisition to Boston Generating. Boston Generating ended up declaring chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010 and was sold to Constellation Energy. [6] Constellation Energy and Exelon merged in March 2012, returning ownership to Exelon. [5] [7] [8] Constellation owns and operates the station following spin-off from Exelon in 2022. [9]

Recently, the Toxics Action Center has targeted the Mystic Generating Station as one of the five largest polluting power stations in the state. [10] Other groups have also become concerned that the plant relies too heavily on Distrigas Liquefied Natural Gas from Yemen which has been experiencing political unrest. [11]

Changes in the wholesale energy markets left Mystic uneconomical to operate under most conditions, leading Exelon to apply to close Mystic from 2022. ISO New England ordered units 8 and 9 to remain operational until the transmission system could be upgraded under a FERC Order 1000 competitive solicitation. Once an upgrade project was selected ISO-NE announced that Mystic Station would be allowed to fully retire on June 1, 2024. [12] Mystic Generating Station's peaking capabilities will be replaced by transmission grid enhancements built on existing National Grid and Eversource properties, a solution known as "Ready Path". [13]

In March 2023, Wynn Resorts acquired 45 acres of the site for $25,000,000. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

NSTAR was a utility company that provided retail electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Massachusetts, including the Boston urban area. NSTAR became a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities in April 2012. In February 2015, Northeast Utilities and all of its operating companies became one large company known as Eversource Energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station</span> Nuclear power station Illinois, U.S.

Braidwood Generating Station is located in Will County in northeastern Illinois, U.S. The nuclear power plant serves Chicago and northern Illinois with electricity. The plant was originally built by Commonwealth Edison company, and subsequently transferred to Com Ed's parent company, Exelon Corporation. Following Exelon's spin-off of their Generation company, the station was transferred to Constellation Energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant</span>

The James A. FitzPatrick (JAF) Nuclear Power Plant is located in the Town of Scriba, near Oswego, New York, on the southeast shore of Lake Ontario. The nuclear power plant has one General Electric boiling water reactor. The 900-acre (360 ha) site is also the location of two other units at the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station</span> Nuclear power plant located in Scriba, Oswego County, New York

Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station is a nuclear power plant with two nuclear reactors located in the town of Scriba, approximately five miles northeast of Oswego, New York, on the shore of Lake Ontario. The 900-acre (360 ha) site is also occupied by the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quad Cities Nuclear Generating Station</span>

Quad Cities Generating Station is a two-unit nuclear power plant located near Cordova, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River. The two General Electric boiling water reactors give the plant a total gross electric capacity of approximately 1,880 MW. It was named for the nearby cities of Moline, Illinois, Rock Island, Illinois, Davenport, Iowa, East Moline, Illinois, and Bettendorf, Iowa — known as the Quad Cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exelon</span> American utility company

Exelon Corporation is a public utility headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and incorporated in Pennsylvania. Exelon is the largest electric parent company in the United States by revenue and is the largest regulated electric utility in the United States with approximately 10 million customers. The company is ranked 99th on the Fortune 500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constellation Energy</span> Energy company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland

Constellation Energy Corporation is an energy company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The company provides electric power, natural gas, and energy management services. It has approximately two million customers across the continental United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gould Street Generating Station</span> Former electric generating plant in Baltimore, Maryland, US

The Gould Street Generating Station was a former 100 MW electric generating plant operated by Exelon that was located on Gould Street in south Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The plant was adjacent to an elevated section of freeway I-95 and was south of the Riverside neighborhood and west of the Locust Point neighborhood of Baltimore. The plant site, located on the shore of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, was used for the generation of electric power for over one hundred years before being shut down on June 1, 2019. The site was purchased by Greenspring Realty Partners, Inc. for $3.1 million in December 2019. Demolition began in October 2020. The original brick buildings, the large storage tanks behind them, and other minor structures on the southwest portion of the property were demolished as of March 2021, but as of April 2022 the larger steel building to the northeast on the property remains. A large portion of the property was acquired by Weller Development in July 2021 and the future of the remaining structure and the property is not known.

The Charles P. Crane Generating Station was a 400 megawatt (MW) coal power plant located on the Carroll Island Road in Bowleys Quarters, Maryland, 14 miles (23 km) east of Baltimore. The power plant was operated by C.P. Crane, LLC, a subsidiary of Avenue Capital Group. The station had two coal-fired generating units, rated at 190 and 209 MW nominal capacity, and powered by cyclone steam boilers. It also had a 16 MW oil-fired combustion turbine. The Crane station occupies 157 acres (64 ha) on the Middle River Neck Peninsula adjacent to the Seneca Creek tributary of the Gunpowder River, and is on the rural side of the Baltimore County Urban Rural Demarcation Line. The plant was closed in June 2018 and demolished via building implosion in August 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandon Shores Generating Station</span> Electric generating station in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, US

The Brandon Shores Generating Station is an electric generating station located on Fort Smallwood Road north of Orchard Beach in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, near Glen Burnie, and is operated by Raven Power Holdings, Inc. Brandon Shores consists of two Babcock & Wilcox coal-fired boilers and two General Electric steam turbines with a combined nominal generating capacity of 1370 MWe. Unit 1 went into operation in May 1984 and Unit 2 in May 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert A. Wagner Generating Station</span> Electric generating station in Maryland

The Herbert A. Wagner Generating Station is an electric generating station located on Fort Smallwood Road north of Orchard Beach in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, just east of Glen Burnie, and is operated by the Raven Power Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of Riverstone Holdings LLC. The H. A. Wagner station consists of natural gas fueled Unit 1, nominally rated at 133 MWe, coal-fired Unit 2 rated at 136 MWe, coal-fired Unit 3 rated at 359 MWe, and oil-fired Unit 4 rated at 415 MWe. Talen Energy will convert the coal-fired units to alternative fuels by 2025.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riverside Generating Station</span> Electric generating station in Dundalk, Maryland, US

The Riverside Generating Station is a 261 MW electric generating station operated by Exelon that is located at 4000 Broening Highway in Dundalk, Maryland. The station is on Sollers Point on the Patapsco River.

PECO, formerly the Philadelphia Electric Company, is an energy company founded in 1881 and incorporated in 1929. It became part of Exelon Corporation in 2000 when it merged with Commonwealth Edison's holding company Unicom Corp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brayton Point Power Station</span>

Brayton Point Power Station was a coal-fired power plant located in Somerset, Massachusetts. It was the largest coal-fired generating station in New England, and was the last coal-fired power station in Massachusetts to provide power to the regional grid. It had been owned by the power company Dominion Energy New England since 2005, after it was purchased from PG&E. The plant was owned from August 2013 to April 2015 by Energy Capital Partners, and is now owned by Dynegy. The plant ceased power generation and went offline on June 1, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anbaric Development Partners</span>

Anbaric Development Partners (Anbaric) is an American electric power transmission and storage development company located in Wakefield, Massachusetts. The company develops smart grid, renewable energy, and large-scale electric transmission projects which use high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology for clients in the United States and internationally.

The Stony Brook Power Plant is a petroleum-fired power station located in Ludlow, MA on a 350-acre site.

The Perryman Generating Station is a 353 MW electric generating peaking power plant owned by Constellation Energy, located in Baltimore, Maryland. Perryman has five units; four are oil-fired, and one is natural gas-fired.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mystic Generating Station". Exeloncorp.com. Exelon . Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  2. SIEMINSKI, ADAM. "STATEMENT OF ADAM SIEMINSKI ADMINISTRATOR ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Before the SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND POWER COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE U. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES" (PDF). energy.gov. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  3. Bride, James. "Sorting out the cost of green energy". Commonwealthmagazine.org. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  4. "New Exelon Power Plant Providing Clean Energy to Boston Area". prnewswire. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Power Plant of the Week - Mystic Generating Station". Energytariffexperts.com. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  6. Jeffrey, Donald; McLaughlin, David. "Boston Generating Sale to Constellation Moves Ahead". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  7. Cho, Hanah. "Maryland PSC approves Constellation sale to Exelon". Baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  8. "Stock Watch: Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC)". themarketsdaily.com. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  9. Everett power plant changes name, owner, again
  10. Ailworth, Erin. "The end of the coal era in Massachusetts". Bostonglobe.com. The Boston Globe. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  11. Ailworth, Erin. "Unrest in Yemen may result in local LNG shortage". bostonglobe.com. The Boston Globe. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  12. ISO New England (July 28, 2020). "ISO-NE Posts Update on Mystic Generating Station" . Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  13. About the Ready Path
  14. Chesto, Jon (March 15, 2023). "Wynn Resorts buys Everett power plant site. Is a Revs stadium on the Mystic next?". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2023-03-16.