July 11, 2022

Employees at Fort Martin Power Station are having a busy summer as they work to complete several projects at the station. The first is a bulk material system outage to help ensure the reliable delivery of coal, and the second project will support the Maidsville, W.Va., station’s efforts to comply with a new regulatory requirement concerning water discharges from the plant.

Bulk Material Equipment Outage

Fort Martin employees and members of FirstEnergy’s Mobile Maintenance group are performing the plant’s annual outage to ensure safe and efficient coal deliveries for the station’s two units, which can each generate more than 550 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

“We work with the Fuels Department and our coal suppliers to determine a time when we will not be receiving barges of coal. This typically coincides with West Virginia coal miners’ vacation, and this year it’s around the Fourth of July holiday,” said Jon Argabrite, manager, Maintenance. “Since we are not receiving any coal deliveries, it’s a great opportunity to perform maintenance on our bulk material equipment.”

The scope of the outage includes: replacing six buckets on the barge unloader and multiple idlers on coal belts; performing repairs on the unloader chute; completing a general inspection of all coal-handling equipment; and installing three rows of new screen plates on the Bradford Breaker, a large rotating cylinder that breaks up clumps of coal and removes rocks, wood and other debris from the station’s fuel.

“The main parts of the outage are replacing the buckets and refurbishing the Bradford Breaker as they are critical components to unloading coal from barges and making sure it is ready for use,” Jon added. “Fort Martin burns more than 2 million tons of coal annually, so the safe and successful completion of the bulk material system outage is crucial to having a reliable fuel supply for the station.”

Stewardship – We positively impact our customers, communities and other stakeholders, and strive to protect the environment. Performance Excellence – We pursue excellence and see opportunities for growth, innovation and continuous improvement.

Effluent Limitation Guidelines Project

Fort Martin currently uses a wet sluice system to transport its bottom ash from the bottom of the boilers to hydro bins where it is dried before being transported to a disposal site. However, due to new effluent limitation guidelines (ELG) finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in August 2020, the facility has started a project to convert the wet system to a compact submerged conveyor (CSC).

“The CSC system is a more flexible and simplified process that will allow Fort Martin to meet the requirements of the ELG while reducing its environmental footprint,” said Dan Sendro, senior consulting engineer and project manager. “The CSC system uses chain conveyors to transport bottom ash without using any water. In addition to achieving compliance with the ELG, this approach also meets the Best Available Technology Economically Achievable requirements for this project.”

Installation of the new CSC system is expected to take about a year to complete, and Fort Martin has until 2025 to comply with the new EPA guidelines. Mon Power is currently waiting for approval from the West Virginia Public Service Commission for rate recovery of the project.

A barge unloader is a crucial component to ensuring a reliable fuel supply for a coal-fired power station.