West Olive, MI: 1960s+1980 1.5gw J.H. Campbell Power Plant

(Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2024

Street View, Jun 2024

I'm surprised Unit 3 was not supercritical since Unit 2 was. Maybe supercritical in 1967 was bleeding edge and they had enough problems that they were chicken to try it again.

gem
By Nov 2025, it had cost $113m to keep the plant running past its planned May 2025 retirement. 

Detroit News posted

Energy regulators as far away as South Dakota are resisting having to pay to keep a coal-burning power plant in Michigan operating. 

Full story: bit.ly/3PNyPvf [paywall, but I was able to get the name of the plant.]

📸 Brett Farmer, Special to the Detroit News

Mike Himmel: The real story DETnews and other mainstream media won't share with You is 1) Midwest is already at high risk of blackouts according the the experts MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator). 2) Data centers are going to put a massive spike on demand with just 1 of the 14 planned (Saline) by itself is going to increase DTE's demand by 25% or the equivelent of a million customers. 3) Whitmers appointed minions at the MPSC are approving the fast tracked applications quickly even as Nessel calls for more hearings and transparency 3) Michigan has had renewable mandates for the last 17 years and its still less than 10% of our total supply and like anything they take the lowest handing fruit first (meaning the projects with the best output for the assets deployed) 4) combine this with Michigans -0- carbon mandate and we are headed to a self created energy crisis. We are going to need not just that coal power plant but in reality another large nuke plant that will take a decade to build. We are literally putting the cart before the horse. The big question is why are the same people that pretended they cared about the climate now suddenly ignoring the will of the people, putting our energy and water supplies at risk? DETNEWS is derelect in their duties as a main news source for Michigan to not even ask the most basic question, but here DETNEWS prestends coal power cost more than renewables. Where is all the electricity going to come from? And don't accept lame answers like windmills and batteries. DETNEWS step up Your game!

mlive, first of 82 photos
This article about Trump forcing the plant to stay open is not behind a paywall.

Mining #Shorts posted

The fight over Michigan’s J.H. Campbell coal plant has turned into a bigger legal test over who controls America’s power grid.

Consumers Energy planned to shut the Ottawa County plant on May 31, 2025. Days before that retirement date, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright ordered it to keep running for 90 days under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act.

Three extensions followed. Nearly a year later, the plant is still being kept alive, and the backlash is growing.

The Department of Energy argues the order was justified by a national energy emergency and the risk of electricity shortages. Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota and environmental groups see something very different: an abuse of emergency powers.

Their case is straightforward. A planned coal retirement isn’t the same as an immediate grid crisis, and power reliability already has state, regional and federal planning channels.

Then there’s the cost.

Consumers previously said closing Campbell would save customers $600 million by 2040. Keeping it open reportedly costs $615,000 a day [wow. why?], with at least $135 million tied to operations after its scheduled retirement.

Consumers isn’t fighting the order directly. It wants assurance it can recover the cost from the wider MISO grid.

That’s why everyone is watching this case.

A ruling against the federal order could limit Washington’s ability to keep aging coal plants running. A ruling in favor could turn emergency authority into a powerful new tool for delaying coal retirements across the U.S.

La Crosse, WI: 1967-87 345mw Genoa Power Station #3

(Satellite)

Street View, Aug 2012

That coal pile extended a long way to the left.

Street View, Aug 2012

James Way-Burch, Jan 2020

The nuclear power plant was also still standing in 2017.

Bojidar 93, Mar 2017

What is the brown ground all about?

Bojidar 98, Mar 2017

Mining #Shorts posted

Genoa Station #3 was one of Wisconsin’s most recognizable coal-fired power plants, sitting along the Mississippi River in Vernon County, just south of La Crosse.

Owned by Dairyland Power Cooperative, the 345-megawatt unit entered service on July 16, 1969, and became a long-running workhorse for cooperative power customers across the Upper Midwest.

Its location made the site unusual. Genoa had already hosted fuel-oil generation, then the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor, Wisconsin’s first nuclear power facility, which operated from 1967 to 1987. The coal plant became the site’s longest-serving chapter.

For 52 years, Genoa Station #3 supplied electricity through cold winters, summer demand peaks and decades of changing power markets. But by 2020, Dairyland’s board voted to retire the plant, citing age, operating economics and a broader shift in its generation mix.

The unit stopped generating on April 11, 2021, and was officially retired on June 1, 2021.

Its final act came in March 2024, when crews demolished the 500-foot stack and main building. Contractor Veit removed 13,000 tons of steel from the boiler house and stack during the last phase, along with 42,380 tons of crushed concrete.

For Genoa, it marked the end of more than half a century of coal-fired generation on the Mississippi.

The plant is gone, but its history still reflects an era when big centralized coal units carried rural electric systems for decades.

1974-2019 2.25gw Navajo Generating Station at Four Corners near Page, AZ

(Satellite, 230 photos)

"Units and In-Service Dates: Unit 1: 803.1 MW (1974), Unit 2: 803.1 MW (1975), Unit 3: 803.1 MW (1976)" [gem]

Page, AZ, was built for the workers that constructed the Glen Canyon Dam.

srpnet
The plant went permanently offline on Nov 18, 2019.

George Clayton McMillan posted, cropped
Navajo Generating Station in Page, AZ. 
2250MW coal fired facility. Worked here for a year during the Decommissioning of the unit.
Andrew Shafer: Pretty sad it’s wiped off the face of the earth now.
Dan McKenna: Any idea who manufactured the boilers? I thought they were either Babcock&Wilcox or Combustion units. Any idea?
David Matesky: They are CE Supercritical boilers.
Scott Patulski: David Matesky you are correct sir. Seltzer design to be specific with split furnaces firing tangentially from 8 corners.
Charles Friedman: When I began working at Combustion Engineering almost 50 years ago, I worked in Field Testing, and Performance Results. I never got to the Four Corners power plant, but others in my department were there, in order to conduct boiler performance and emissions tests on the Unit 1 boiler. In later years, the company, and the successive companies, built even larger steam generators, up to 660,000 Lb/hr SH steam flow, supercritical, lignite fired, with 990 MW generator net output.
Joseph Hallstrom: Charles Friedman, not trying to be picky but 990MW from 660,000 lb/hr of SSH steam? Maybe you missed a zero.
Allen England: Didn't they replace the plant with 250 mw of solar panels?

 

Mining #Shorts posted

The Navajo Generating Station was one of the most recognizable coal plants ever built in the American West. Located near Page, Arizona, the facility operated for more than four decades and became deeply tied to the economy of the Navajo Nation and the wider Southwest power grid.

Construction started in the early 1970s and the plant eventually reached 2,250 megawatts across three generating units. At full operation, it supplied electricity to Arizona, Nevada and California while also powering the pumps of the Central Arizona Project, the massive water system carrying Colorado River water across the Arizona desert.

The station burned coal from the nearby Kayenta Mine, with trains delivering fuel continuously across northern Arizona. For many Navajo and Hopi families, the mine and plant created some of the region’s highest-paying industrial jobs. Tax revenue and lease payments became critical sources of income for local communities.

But the plant also carried enormous controversy. Environmental groups targeted it for decades because of emissions affecting air quality around the Grand Canyon and the broader Southwest. By the 2010s, cheap natural gas and rapidly expanding solar generation made coal power increasingly difficult to justify economically.

In 2017, utility owners voted to shut the station down years earlier than originally expected. The final coal was burned on November 18, 2019, ending operations after roughly 45 years. One year later, the plant’s famous smokestacks were demolished, marking the end of one of America’s most important coal-fired power stations.

-

Photo: Myrabella / WikiCommons

Richard Travis: That plant had good sulfur dioxide scrubbers later on in its life. Photo could be early or a time with a low dew point.

Troy Mitchell: They have to wait for the coldest day of the year to take the photos.

Troy Mitchell commented on the above post

I Took this photo myself in Utah on a 96° day when everybody in Utah’s air conditioning was running full blast.

To me It looks like the picture above is Both AI and or taken on a cold day when the warm air turns into steam. Isn’t it funny how we let people that don’t know their head from a hole in the ground run this country.

Mike Painter posted, cropped
Navajo Generation Station in the good ole days.

vox, Adrian Herder/Tó Nizhóní Ání, courtesy of Wahleah Johns/National Renewables
"The three 775-foot smokestacks of the 2,250-megawatt Navajo Generating Station (NGS) — the West’s largest coal plant — were demolished December 18, [2020]."

Even more jobs were lost at the nearby mine that supplies the lignite coal.

coconino
"The mine to mouth’s backbone is the 80 mile long electric railroad supplying Kayenta’s only customer – the Navajo Generating Station (NGS). NGS consumes 240 rail cars of the Kayenta Mine’s coal every day."

This satellite image is old enough that the buildings are still standing and the coal pile is rather full.

Satellite

Facebook Reel

Same Reel

Labadie, MO: 1970 2.4gw Labadie Power Plant

(Satellite)

Mining #Shorts posted

West of St. Louis, four massive generating units rise above the Missouri River floodplain.

Together, they form the Labadie Power Plant, the biggest coal-fired power station in Missouri.

Commissioned in June 1970, the Ameren-owned facility carries a generating capacity of roughly 2,400 megawatts. That’s enough to supply electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes across the Midwest during peak demand periods.

The plant burns low-sulfur coal shipped mainly from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.

Labadie became one of the defining pieces of Missouri’s industrial grid during the second half of the 20th century. Even today, coal still dominates Missouri’s electricity mix, and Labadie remains one of the state’s most important generating assets.

But the station also became highly controversial.

Environmental groups and federal data have repeatedly ranked Labadie among the nation’s largest sulfur dioxide emitters and one of America’s biggest greenhouse gas sources. Debates surrounding ash ponds, groundwater contamination and air pollution placed the facility under growing scrutiny over the past decade.

Despite that pressure, the plant continues operating while many other large coal stations across the country shut down permanently.

That contrast says a lot about the current American power grid.

Even as utilities push toward gas, wind and solar, giant coal plants like Labadie still carry a major share of the electrical load when demand surges across the Midwest.

1972/73 Labadie Quad @ 24,000

New Florence, PA: 2004 585mw Seward Power Plant

(Satellite)

The current operating unit, #4, started in 2004 and has a capacity of 585mw. [gem]

Phil Jad posted

Adam Karpa: One of the dirtiest plants I’ve ever worked in, ash EVERYWHERE, it rains through the plant all day.

Terry Haldin: I worked there in E & I ,2007 to 2014. They were replacing the ash pipes with ceramic lined pipes to extend their life. That place used enormous amounts of compressed air. And the ash transport was by air.

Street View, Oct 2023

Is the white "cloud" peaking over the top of the mountain from the Conemaugh Power Plant?

Maddog4x4, Jan 2023

I presume the long building stores coal because that coal pile is small.

Maddog4x4, Jan 2023

Even though there is an active railroad (former Pennsy) next to the plant, it appears their coal is delivered by trucks instead of rail. 

Satellite

I originally thought it used trucks because it got its coal from the Conemaugh Power Plant, which is just down the road. Instead, "Seward sources its primary fuel from the 60+ million tons of waste coal reserves spread throughout the region. This unique supply chain enables Seward Generation to operate as one of the lowest cost solid fuel power plants in the PJM (Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Maryland) Region. Seward Generation is also currently one of the most environmentally friendly power plants in the country. Unlike traditional solid fuel plants, Seward Generation utilizes circulating fluidized bed technology (CFB) which enables the plant to burn up to 100% waste coal and lower harmful emissions. Alkaline-rich ash, a beneficial byproduct from the process, is returned to the mine sites and utilized in environmental reclamation projects. Through this process, Seward Generation has removed more than 40,000,000 tons of refuse from the Pennsylvania landscape since operations commenced." [robindale]

I presume that waste coal piles are like petco piles in that wind blows black dust off of them. That would explain why they have the long building for storage.

Before Unit 4, the units were small and the building that housed them has been torn down.

Google Earth, Apr 1994

Phil Jad posted
A truck carrying hot beneficial use ash departs from Seward Generation power plant in New Florence, Indiana County, on Monday, February 10, 2025. Owned by Robindale Energy, Seward Generation is the nation's largest waste coal-fired power plant.

Phil Jad posted

Limestone deposit, used in the combustion process, shown here at Seward Generation power plant in New Florence, Indiana County, on Monday, February 10, 2025.

Owned by Robindale Energy, Seward Generation is the nation's largest waste coal-fired power plant.

Big Boy 2026:

Chad Hoover posted
Union Pacific’s Big Boy steaming past Seward Generation.

Genoa, WI: Lost/CB&Q Depot and Genoa Power Station 3

Depot: (Satellite, based on the aerial photo below. WI-35 did not exist back then.)

Power Station: (Satellite)

CB&Q Depot

David Nelson posted
Here is a 1952 photo of the CB&Q depot in Genoa -- again not a very good photo and I did what I could with it.

1939 Aerial Photo from WIHAP

Power Station 3

Bojidar93, Mar 2017

Photo, Jan 2020

Because this plant is going to soon be closed, I saved a satellite image.

Satellite

I zoom in on the barge traffic because I was shocked to learn that this 1969 plant was designed to use Powder River Basin coal delivered by barge. [PowerMag]

Satellite

Barge access to this plant is no mystery since it is on the shores of the Mississippi River. But how do you get barge access to the Powder River Basin? A quick check of the Fort Randall Dam shows it has no locks. That doesn't surprise me since the dams on the Upper Missouri River are supposed to be for flood control. (I say "supposed to be" because in 2019 they favored recreation use instead of flood storage and many farms and towns downriver paid for that decision.) So do they use railroads to get the coal to Sioux City, IA, then shove the barges 734 miles down theMissouri River to the Mississippi, and then shove them many more miles up the Mississippi River to Genoa? [USACE] A quick look at a map shows that is about three times the distance as the Sioux City to Genoa distance. And that distance is less than half the distance between the Powder River Basin and Genoa.

New York, NY: 1900-2005 163mw and steam Waterside (39th Street) Power Station, first AC in NYC

(Satellite, it is still brownland.)

The building on the left was the 1900 Station I, the first AC power plant in NYC. And the one on the right was the 1905 Station II.

TudorCityConfidential

TudorCityConfidential, 1926
Coal was replaced with natural gas in 1958.

Michael Bara posted nine images with the comment: "Waterside Power Station I & II 1910 New York City"

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

MichaelMinn, this webpage has several demolition photos
"The Waterside Generating Plant was a majestic Beaux-Arts industrial structure designed by C. Wellesley Smith and built between 1896 and 1900. It was the first generating facility in New York City to produce alternating current. In 2001 it produced 2.4 million pounds of steam and 163 megawatts of electricity. Up through the middle of the 20th century, this portion of the East Side waterfront was devoted to industrial concerns, but the deindustrialization of the city after WWII coupled with the arrival of the United Nations and the work of numerous developers transformed the area into an upscale residential neighborhood."

The demolition of the site was completed in 2008. [trccompanies]

The 2008 Great Recession must have scrapped the redevelopment plans because the site is still vacant. Too bad the demolition wasn't delayed for some reason until after the recession. The buildings would have made a terrific event space and/or museum.

Satellite

Google Earth, Sep 2005

ltvsquad, this webpage has a lot of interior "urban explorer" photos

"Completed in 1900, the Waterside Generating Station produced both electricity and steam. Steam was, and continues to be, a vital energy source within NYC’s older buildings. Grand Central Terminal, for example, is heated with Steam provided by Con Ed, and also cooled by this steam via a chemical reaction between the steam and lithium bromide within a conversion plant located under the main floor of the terminal.

"During a typical year, the Waterside Generating Station could produce over 2.4 million pounds of steam and 160 megawatts of electricity."

It had to get its coal from barges because the east side did not have a railroad.

1956/58 Brooklyn @ 24,000

The United Nations Buildings make it easy to identify the location.

Feb 18, 1954 @ 20,000; AR1VBV000110135