Gould Street Generating Station
| Company type | Power generation facility |
|---|---|
| Industry | Electric power generation |
| Founded | 1905 |
| Defunct | 2019-06-01 |
| Fate | Closed and sold; demolition commenced in 2020 |
| Headquarters | Baltimore , United States |
Area served | Maryland, USA |
| Products | Electricity |
| Owner | Exelon (until 2019), then Greenspring Realty Partners, Inc. |
The Gould Street Generating Station was a 100 MW power facility managed by Exelon situated on Gould Street in the southern part of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Positioned next to an elevated stretch of I-95, the location lay south of the Riverside area and to the west of Locust Point, along the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River. This plant supplied electricity for more than one hundred years before ceasing operations on June 1, 2019.
In December 2019, Greenspring Realty Partners, Inc. acquired the property for $3.1 million. Demolition activities commenced in October 2020, removing the original brick structures, storage tanks, and smaller buildings by March 2021. Nevertheless, as of April 2022, the larger steel structure located at the northeast section of the site was still standing. A substantial portion of the land was purchased by Weller Development in July 2021; however, the intended future use of the remaining building and surrounding area has not been determined.
Plant description
The electric power generated by the Gould Street Generating Station came from Unit 3, which consisted of a steam turbine powered by a natural gas boiler. Cooling water for the steam turbine’s condenser was drawn from the Patapsco River. Additionally, the facility housed a 250 kW emergency generator designed to provide backup power necessary for starting Unit 3 during power interruptions.
History
Electric power production at this location began in 1905 when Baltimore Electric Power Company installed three steam turbine generators, each rated at 2 MW and operating at 60 cycles with a voltage of 6,600 volts. The electricity was converted to direct current at a substation on Sharp Street and offered at rates lower than competitors, sparking a price war with Consolidated Gas Electric Light and Power Company (a predecessor to Constellation Energy). This intense rivalry concluded when Consolidated Gas secured a 999-year lease on Baltimore Electric’s assets in 1907. Subsequently, the original turbines were sold to a mining operation in Mexico.
In 1927, two new steam generators (Units 1 and 2) with capacities of 35 MW each were installed. These units operated using pulverized coal boilers producing superheated steam at 450 psi and remained in service until their retirement in 1977.
Unit 3, a 100 MW generator installed in 1952, initially operated with coal-fired steam but was later converted to burn No. 6 fuel oil and natural gas. Following a steam turbine failure in 2003, Constellation Energy repaired and modified Unit 3 to operate solely on natural gas, bringing it back online in June 2008. After Constellation merged into Exelon in 2012, Exelon eventually closed and sold the plant in 2019.
Operations
Before shutting down, Exelon operated the facility as a peaking power plant with a capacity factor reaching up to 10%, primarily running during peak electricity demand periods in Maryland’s summer months. The Gould Street Generating Station was dispatched through the PJM Interconnection regional transmission organization.