Friday, August 15, 2025

Owensville, IN: (Mt Carmel, IL:) 1976 3.3gw Duke Gibson Power Plant

(Satellite)

I noted this power plant when studying smoke plumes. These notes describe the plant itself.

Coal was supplied by the Wabash Mine from 1970 to 2007.

duke
Capacity: 3,145 megawatts
Gibson Station is Duke Energy’s largest power plant. It is a five-unit facility that was built between 1976 and 1982.
  • Plant Nameplate Capacity: 3,339.5 MW (Megawatt)
  • Units and In-Service Dates: Unit 1: 667.9 MW (1975), Unit 2: 667.9 MW (1976), Unit 3: 667.9 MW (1978), Unit 4: 667.9 MW (1979), Unit 5: 667.9 MW (1982)
  • Unit Retirements: In December 2021, Duke Energy was planning to close Unit 5 by 2025 (instead of 2026), Units 3-4 by 2029 (instead of 2034) and Units 1-2 by 2035 (instead of 2038).
[gem]
All five units use a GE steam turbine and generator and a Amec Foster Wheeler boiler. [power-technology]

20161230-0107 7526rc
A view of the north side from IN-64

Koale Culp posted
Matthew Baltzell: Daaammm she’s a big girl.
Matt Harney: Matthew Baltzell at one time, one of the largest on the planet!

TJ Baxley posted
John Bohach: Good ol' Gibson. 2,3,4,5 up and running. Always good to see those stacks pumping.

CourierPress [registration count 3]
Duke Energy's Gibson Power Plant on the banks of the Wabash River, near Owensville, Ind., is one of four "super polluter" coal-burning power plants within a 30-mile radius of Evansville. Bob Gwaltney/Courier & Press

ValleyWatch
Duke's Gibson power plant is the second largest coal burner in the nation producing a whopping 3,339 megawatts of electricity at any given time. It is also one of the world's largest polluters. One interesting aspect of the Gibson Station being used for this experiment is that it sits just a couple miles from the epicenter of a 2008 Wabash Fault earthquake that shook much of the midwest. What the fault means for the veracity of the study is uncertain at this time. Photo© John Blair
Feb 15, 2012: "Duke Energy has agreed with the China Huaneng Group on a study to determine if the Chinese company’s carbon-capture technology can be installed on Duke’s Gibson Steam Station in Indiana."
[I have found no evidence that carbon capture has been added in the intervening ten years.]
 
Jim Pearson Photography posted
Norfolk Southern 8092, 3619 and 3613 lead a loaded coal train as they pull onto the lead, headed for the Duke Energy power Gibson plant, just outside of East Mount Carmel, Indiana on April 8th, 2023.
According to Wikipedia: The Gibson Generating Station was originally built as a two-unit coal-fired power plant in 1972 by Public Service Indiana (PSI) with initial plans to build 8 units. The 1970s saw the addition of Units 3, 4. However, environmental regulations prevented the construction of the two remaining additional units in the original plan. In 1982, Unit 5 was constructed, and two more stacks were added. In the 1990s, number 4 was separated from number 3's stack, and each was given its own stack, while Units 1 and 2 continued to share a stack.
Cinergy took over PSI in 1995. After the merger, all five units were fitted with new Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) equipment, mounted on the back of each unit. During this construction, one of the largest cranes in the world was erected at Gibson Station. Despite this, the station only had 4 stacks for 5 units. Units 1 & 2 still shared a single flue stack and Unit 3 was still using the old 3 & 4 stack. (Both stacks have since been removed bringing the number of visible stacks back down to four).
Duke Energy took over Cinergy in May 2006.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic 3 Classic Drone, RAW, 24mm, f/2.8, 5000, ISO 230.
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/norfolk-southern-duke-energy-coal-train...

A view of the south side from down by the approach trestle for the Big Four bridge across the Wabash

I could not find where this 260'x180'x60' Dry Bottom Ash Building was built. Nor could I find a date on the ussi page.
ussi

ussi

While looking for that building, I discovered what appears to be a slope coal mine with a loop track loadout. Google Maps does not label the name of the mine. Looking at Google Earth, it was being constructed in Feb 2018, and it was in operation by Oct 2019.
Satellite

All of the pictures I took in this area are available in my reference blog.

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