Alabama Power retiring historic Gadsden Steam Plant, effective Jan. 1
The Gadsden Steam Plant, Alabama Power’s oldest power plant, is shutting down.
The decision was announced on Monday in a news release from the utility. The plant will shut down on Jan. 1.
Alabama Power officials said the decision stemmed from "the company’s continued focus on providing customers the most efficient and cost-effective electricity possible.”
Company officials said the retirement won't create any demand issues locally, as the plant was not the sole source of electricity to the area.
“The Gadsden Steam Plant was the catalyst that helped spur the economic growth of Alabama in the early 1900s,” said Jim Heilbron, Alabama Power’s senior production officer. “It’s been a steady energy source for us to dependably power our customers ever since. Though it’s the end of an era to close its doors, we will continue to find ways to honor the legacy.”
The plant was under construction on the banks of the Coosa River in 1912, when engineer and eventual company president James Mitchell purchased Alabama Power from W.P. Lay, who founded the original company in Gadsden in 1906. Mitchell consolidated it with other companies he had purchased with prime dam sites on rivers in Alabama to create a major utility under the Alabama Power name.
The Gadsden plant went online in September 1913 and was the largest electricity generating plant in the state, with the ability to produce 10,000 kilowatt hours.
By comparison, the Calhoun Generating Facility in Eastaboga recently purchased by Alabama Power can generate roughly 743 megawatts, or 743,000 kilowatts, at maximum output, enough according to company officials to serve more than 185,000 homes.
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Gadsden’s original capacity, according to the news release, provided the necessary reserve power needed “to build dams, expand transmission lines, grow Alabama’s economy and improve service to the state.”
Historian Leah Rawls Atkins, in her book on Alabama Power called “Developed for the Service of Alabama,” said the plant’s production of readily available electricity encouraged companies to move to Gadsden, providing power for their operations as well as street lights and trolleys.
“It was the beginning of a new era – one driven by electricity,” Atkins wrote. “Gadsden Steam Plant was significant in the development of the state power system.”
The original plant continued operations through 1952. A new plant built at the site, whose units could use either coal or natural gas, had begun generating power three years earlier.
Other milestones:
• Renew the Coosa, now known as Renew Our Rivers, was launched by plant employee Gene Phifer. It’s now one of the nation’s largest river cleanup initiatives, with more than 120,000 volunteers removing more than 16 million pounds of trash from waterways in the Southeast.
• The plant in 2001 received a Southeastern Electric Exchange award for a project testing alternative fuel options, including a switchgrass co-firing system.
• Cassandra Wheeler in 2012 became manager of the Gadsden plant, making her the first African American to hold that position in the Southern Company (Alabama Power’s current corparate parent) system.
• The plant switched to natural gas operation in 2015.
• Closure of the plant’s coal ash pond began in 2016 and was completed two years later by capping under an ADEM permit and federal regulations; environmental groups over the years have pushed for the ash’s removal.
No involuntary job losses from the plant’s retirement are anticipated, according to the news release. Alabama Power is working on job placements for anyone wishing to stay with the company.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Alabama Power retires oldest electricity generating plant
