Midwest Generation EME Shutters Coal-Fired Crawford and Fisk Power Plants

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--After almost a century of service, the Crawford and Fisk power stations owned by Midwest Generation EME LLC (Chicago, Illinois), a subsidiary of Edison Mission Energy (Irvine, California), have closed and retired their remaining coal-fired steam turbine generators. Pending placement on the market for sale, if no buyer can be found, the plants will be dismantled and demolished. Along with the plant closures, 40 employees will be laid off or retired.

The original Crawford Power Station, which was built on an 80-acre site within the Chicago city limits, was constructed in 1924 with the steam-generating, 216-megawatt Unit 7 and 326-megawatt Unit 8 starting up in 1958 and 1961, respectively. Units 7 and 8 were the last remaining units to be shut down. The Crawford Power Station received four to six coal barges per day along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal when it was fully operational.

The original Fisk Power Station was built on a 44-acre site in 1903, with the 326-megawatt steam Unit 19 starting up in 1959. This was the last unit to be shut down. The station received coal by barge as well. Cooling water for both facilities was drawn from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, before being pumped through the turbine condensers and then back to the canal.

The power plants created hundreds of jobs for the region, as well as a steady tax base for the surrounding communities.

Remaining at the Fisk Power Station are eight Pratt & Whitney FT4-A Twin Pack Aeroderivative Combustion Turbines, which will be operated for peaking generation when needed.

Midwest Generation EME LLC and Environmental Resource Management (Rolling Meadows, Illinois) are responsible for the sale and demolition of the power plants that have come to the end of their operational lives and whose employees have served the city of Chicago and the citizens of Illinois for generations.

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