R.E. Burger Power Station

R.E. Burger Power Station

Company type	Power station
Industry	Electric power generation
Founded	1944
Defunct	2011
Fate	Demolished
Headquarters	Shadyside, Ohio , United States
Products	Electricity
Owner	FirstEnergy (final owner)

R.E. Burger Power Station was a coal-fired facility with a generating capacity of 568 megawatts (MW), situated just south of Shadyside, Ohio in Belmont County, Ohio. The plant, managed by FirstEnergy, ceased operations in 2011.

History

Built during the 1940s to support increased industrial electricity needs amid World War II, Unit 1 became operational in 1944, followed by Unit 2 in 1947. Each of these units had a capacity of 65 MW and together cost $5 million. After two years of construction, Unit 3 was commissioned in 1950, delivering 100 MW at an investment of $12 million, funded through stock issued by Ohio Edison via Lehman Brothers. Units 4 and 5 were brought online in 1955, each producing 135 MW, with a combined construction expense of $43.2 million. The station was named in honor of R.E. Burger, who served as chairman of Ohio Public Service Company and subsequently Ohio Edison.

Environmental mitigation and testing

In 1991, R.E. Burger was selected as a pilot site for clean coal technology initiatives by Ohio Edison, under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Energy. A SO_x-Rox Box (SNRB) system engineered by Babcock & Wilcox was employed on a 5 MW unit to simultaneously reduce sulfur dioxide (), nitrogen oxides (), and particulate emissions. In 1994, Sorbent Technologies demonstrated a jet-engine style filter at the plant aimed at pollution control. That same year, Unit 2 underwent testing to burn refuse-derived fuel as an alternative to lower fuel expenses and emissions.

Following the merger of Ohio Edison with Centerior Energy in 1997, FirstEnergy took ownership of R.E. Burger. In 2004, the facility tested Powerspan's Electro-Catalytic Oxidation (ECO) scrubber technology designed to curb emissions of and mercury on a unit with a capacity of 50 MW. By 2007, FirstEnergy announced intentions to equip Units 4 and 5 with ECO scrubbers, targeting operational readiness by 2011.

From 2006 through 2010, R.E. Burger participated in the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP), evaluating carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture techniques and its injection into underground geological formations for long-term storage.

Retirement, demolition, and future plans

Due to the requirements imposed by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments rendering Units 1 and 2 non-compliant and economically impractical to retrofit, Ohio Edison retired these units in 1995. Amid declining power demand and competition from lower-cost natural gas during the Great Recession, FirstEnergy explored converting the plant to biomass fuel in 2009. Although this conversion was estimated to be $130 million cheaper than installing pollution control scrubbers, financial feasibility remained insufficient, resulting in the shutdown of two units by the end of 2010. The last remaining unit, Unit 3, was retired in 2011 following increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

After four years devoted to decommissioning, demolition commenced in 2015 and culminated in July 2016 with the controlled implosion of the station’s towering 854-foot smokestack. In 2017, Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical acquired a remediated parcel measuring 168 acres from FirstEnergy for $13.8 million with plans to construct an ethane cracker facility, marking a significant industrial redevelopment effort for the site.

See also

• Ohio power stations list