SHAMOKIN DAM – The billion dollar electric power generating plant in Shamokin Dam is officially producing high amounts of electricity. In an updated sit-down with WKOK, Panda Hummel Power Plant General Manager Michael Stahr says all equipment has been turned over to the plant from its construction contractor.
Stahr says the transfer was effective June 4, allowing the plant to begin commercial operation, which supplies power to the PPL grid, “We’re rated up to 1124 megawatts. That’s our top capacity, with our supplemental burning. With the current weather, a typical day right now would be 1,010 megawatts. And with this high temperatures and humidity, between the 1,010-1,025 is typically where we are.”
Stahr says the plant generates sufficient power to supply over 1 million homes. He says the day-to-day operations are created by dispatches from PPL made a day in advance, “We have a staff of 35 permitted employees. For a typical day, we have one four-man operations crew running the plant and then a maintenance staff to support anything that might come up, of seven, IOC (Instrument and Control) and mechanical people.”
The plant receives natural gas from the 20” Sunbury Pipeline, which derives its natural gas from the northern tier of Pennsylvania.
