February Operation Expected at Rock Springs Generation Station

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Two units (3&4) at the Rock Springs Generation Station are scheduled for operation by the end of February. The facility is located in the community of Rock Springs, at the intersection of Old Mill Road and U.S. Route 222, in northwestern Cecil County, in Maryland. With a total capacity of 1,026-megawatts (MW), the simple-cycle plant includes six (6) 171-megawatt natural gas-fired General Electric Frame 7FA combustion turbines. Each combustion turbine has a 75-foot tall exhaust stack.

The facility is situated on a 26-acre site. A short electric transmission line span has been constructed on a 5-acre parcel adjacent to the plant, owned by Rock Springs Generation LLC, to tie the facility to an existing 500-kilovolt transmission line located southwest of Old Mill Road.

Combustion turbine power plants are based on a "simple-cycle" jet engine technology. The plant consists of a gas compressor, fuel combustor and a gas expansion turbine. Air enters at the front of the unit and is compressed, mixed with natural gas or oil, and then ignited. The hot gas is then expanded through turbine blades to turn the generator to produce electricity. After leaving the turbine, the gas is then released into the atmosphere. Combustion turbines are also able to burn a wide range of liquid and gaseous fuels from crude oil to natural gas.

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) and Consolidated Edison jointly own the Rock Springs Generating Station. ODEC is the owner of units 1&2, which are scheduled to come on-line in May or June 2003. Con Edison is the operating agent, also the owner of units 3&4.

Allegheny Power and Florida Power & Light have been looking at units 5&6, and they're still open for bids.

The plant will serve as a "peaking" station, meaning it will provide electricity at high-usage time, during the hottest and coldest days, to customers in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (Glen Allen, Virginia) is a generation-and-transmission (G&T) cooperative, the plant is being built to benefit the twelve cooperatives that it serves, and they cannot sell electric energy for profit on the open market.

Con Edison Development and Con Edison Energy, are subsidiaries of Consolidated Edison Incorporated (NYSE: ED) (New York City, New York), one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the nation.