AES Somerset Generation Plant

Somerset Generation Plant is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by AES near Barker, New York.

In 1999, AES purchased six power plants in New York (including the Somerset station) from NGE Generation, Inc. for $953 million. The other stations included in the deal were AES Westover, AES Cayuga, AES Greenidge, AES Hickling, and AES Jennison

In March 2011 AES announced it wanted to sell four of its New York coal plants, including Somerset. The other plants included AES Cayuga, AES Greenidge and AES Westover.

Plant Data

 * Owner: AES Somerset LLC
 * Parent Company: AES
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 655 MW
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 655 MW (1984)
 * Location: 7725 Lake Rd., Barker, NY 14012
 * GPS Coordinates: 43.353, -78.596278
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 5,069,620 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 2,573 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 4,307 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 15 lb.

The following table gives more info on this plant's SO2 emissions levels, as well as on whatever SO2 emissions "scrubbers" (Flue Gas Desulfurization units, or FGDs) have been installed at the plant. Each of the plant's units is listed separately, and at the bottom overall data for the plant is listed.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from AES Somerset Generation Plant
In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from AES Somerset Generation Plant
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * New York and coal
 * AES
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming