The generator turns no more. The condenser lies still. No steam to turn her blades. The coal mills to grind no more. The craft to seek new work. The lathe, the mill,the drill press,hope to again reshape steel, allowing a pump or fan to turn once more. The pickers glean her steel, to find another purpose. No grain bins of corn to dry, No Case tractor battery to charge. Chesapeake Energy Center 1954-2014 Thanks for listening. Chuck Machinist

Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see Natural Gas is the new Coal!

Sorry to hear your electrical plant was shut down. Does this mean you have to find a different job? Don

Don, They gave me an opportunity to maintain the machine shop in the Yorktown Va. Power plant through 2016. After that I will start my mobile antique tractor repair service. Ill travel Nation Wide! For an additional fee,Ill travel to the Canadian Provinces.

Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see

come to the cheese state first and I'll keep you busy for about a year!

Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see I spoke with our engineer that I worked with over my career, and he said roughly 50 years. Environmental permitting was the driver for her demise.

The commies here in the once Great New York State were successful in totally shutting down a large coal fired generating plant, several years ago. Now, they have ordered another coal fired plant shuttered, & that plant wants to convert to Natural Gas, but the commies are even fighting that, they want it totally shuttered. They can live in an unheated hut if they want to, but I do not want to!

Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see

Ain't that the truth! Idiots think we're all going to get free solar panels and run everything off that. Of course they expect someone else to pay for it too. Idiots.

Bret, the really crazy thing is that those solar panels aren't that efficient, and take a ton of energy to make. It has only been recently, last 5 or 6 years, that in the best of circumstances, they could produce more energy over their 20 year life than it took to manufacture them. And even now, it you make a mistake in the installation you will not get the energy from them that it took to manufacture them. So my question is, without coal, how do we make the solar panels?

Out of curiosity, what was the designed life of the plant and why was it shut down?

I worked 28 1/2 years at Noblesville Generation station in Indiana. Was part of the crew that took her off line in 2003 for the last time as a Coal fired Generation Station. It felt kinda strange knowing the old Coal side of the plant would never run again. But they Repowered her into a Combined Cycle Power Plant with 3 new Gas Turbines and their exhaust was used to make steam to run the two 1950 Steam Turbines in the original Power Plant. I'd still be there except Duke bought out Cinergy and forced me into Early retirement in 2006.
Joe

Did you work there Chuck? I have worked for AEP at a Power House since '88.
AEP is shutting down several plants for the same reason.

Hey Nick.

I spent 29 years there as their machinist. I would not have traded it for anything.

our local power coal plant is being shut down as well. the company that wanted to buy it couldn't secure money to convert to bio, but too many epa regs. also a coal powered plant an hour north of me wants to close because the mine it was supplying went to another company. however the federal energy regulatory commission states the power plant is necessary to the grid so it is forcing it to stay open. $190,000,000 to upgrade the plant to meet new regulations that the power company said WILL be passed on to all consumers in the U.P. even if you don't receive power from them. right now its all tied up I the courts. Boy was George Washington was right about government.

Kip

You Talking about the Presque Isle Plant?

yeah

I know up in UP there isn't enough Transmission and Generation and if they close the Plant down there is going to be Brown outs in that area.

I couldn't say for certain about that, but it seemed that Presque isle was more or less strictly supplying power to the mine. I'm wondering with all these plants closing,what is making up the difference?? not like new coal plants being built, hasen't been a new nuke plant built since the 70's. lot more homes/ businesses/ people since then.