TRENTON – Demolition started on a Downriver power plant that began operating 100 years ago.
DTE Energy started phase one of the demolition on the Trenton Channel Power Plant on Friday, March 15 by taking down the two smoke stacks. The second phase is set to begin on May 17 with the demolition of the boiler house.
According to DTE Energy, the plant was the first to use pulverized coal as fuel instead of stoker-fired beds of coal, which led the way for improvements. It was also the first electric power plant in the world to use electrostatic precipitators.
Watch the demolition of the smoke stacks in the video player below.
Terms to know
Before we get into the history of the Trenton Channel Power Plant, there are some terms we have to learn together. You see, I don’t know as much as I’d like to know about how power plants operate -- but today is as good a day as any to learn something new! If you already know all this, I’m sorry, but some of us are not as lucky as you. Anyway, here we go:
- Turbine generators use water, steam, combustion gases, or air, to push a series of blades that are mounted to a rotor shaft. The force on the blades spins the rotor shaft of the generator. The generator converts the mechanical energy of the rotor to electrical energy.
- Pulverized coal is a coal that has been crushed into a fine dust in a grinding mill. It burns very quickly and efficiently.
- Stoker coal is a coal that has been crushed to specific sizes, but is not powdered.
- Electrostatic precipitators use electrical energy to charge particles either positively or negatively and remove them from a gas stream. The charged particles are pulled to collector plates that have an opposite charge. The particles are then either removed dry or washed from the plates with water.
History of the Trenton Channel Power Plant
Okay, now onto the history. This information comes from DTE Energy and the images are from the Detroit Historical Society:
The Trenton Channel Power Plant started operating in 1924. At the time it had six turbine generators and 13 coal-fired boilers. By 1929, the sixth and final turbine generator arrived.
The plant was the first to use pulverized coal as fuel instead of stoker-fired beds of coal. DTE Energy said that the use of pulverized fuel led the way for improvements to combustion efficiency and new coal preparation technologies.
The plant was the first electric power plant in the world to use electrostatic precipitators to limit the amount of ash particulate emissions that got into the air, according to DTE Energy. Ever since, no power plants have been built without using emission control technology.
In 1950, a second plant began operating at Trenton Channel, it was adjoined to the first plant. This one had two turbine generators which were fed by four boilers. The boilers ran at higher steam conditions than the first plant. DTE Energy said that’s why the first plant became known as the “low side” and the newer plant was known as the “high side.” Two short smokestacks released gases from the boilers.
Eighteen years later, in 1968, a turbine generator fed by a single boiler and adjoined to the “high side” plant was placed into service. This was known as Unit 9. A 563-foot-tall smoke stack was built for that unit. Not long after, a second identical stack was put up to replace two short stacks on the “high side” plant.
By the mid-1970s, the “low side” plant was put out of service and the boiler house was eventually demolished. The “high side” of the plant was the last major plant facility that was completely designed and built by Detroit Edison.
DTE Energy retired the Trenton power plant in 2022. As part of a settlement, DTE Energy agreed to end its use of coal to generate electricity in 2032. They plan on shifting to cleaner sources to create power such as wind, natural gas, and solar.
Updates about the Trenton Channel Power Plant demolition will be posted at empoweringmichigan.com.