Power Plants 
There are currently five steam electric generating plants located 
along Tampa Bay which withdraw bay water for once-through condenser 
cooling (Table 1). Approximately half of the generating units are more 
than 30 years old, and the oldest --Units 1 and 2, Tampa Electric 
Company’s (TECO) Hookers Point Plant-- are approaching 40 years of age. 
Only in the last 20 years with the construction of ever larger generating 
units and their concomitant increases in cooling water withdrawals have 
power plants been recognized as major sources of industrial discharge. 
The 15 units constructed prior to 1965 utilize a combined total of 1,721 
mgd for cooling, whereas the 6 units built since 1965 withdraw a combined 
total of 1,987 mgd, nearly three times the amount per unit. 
The primary environmental impacts caused by plants which use once- 
through cooling are of three types; one concerns the discharge of heated 
effluent, and the other two are associated with the withdrawal of cooling 
water (Figure 2). Thermal discharges can have adverse effects on the 
biota in the vicinity of the power plant. Impingement is the removal and 
death of organisms trapped on plant intake screens. Entrainment causes 
death of planktonic organisms carried through the plant cooling system. 
Additional adverse impacts can be caused by the addition of chlorine at 
plant intakes to reduce in-plant fouling, runoff from coal storage piles, 
and discharges from slag and ash settling ponds. The slag handling 
system at the Big Bend Station, for example, uses an average of 7 mgd in 
conjunction with a settling 
into Tampa Bay (TBRPC 1983). 
pond. 
This water 
is ultimately 
discharged 
Table 1. Five power plants 
located 
in Tampa Bay (from TBRPC, 
1985). 
Hookers 
Big 
Characteristics Point 
Gannon 
Bend 
Higgins 
Bartow 
1) Numbers of units 
5 
6 
4 
3 3 
2) Number of pumps 
3) Start-up dates: 
10 
12 
8 
6 6 
Unit 1 
1948 
1957 
1970 
19511958 
Unit 2 
1948 
1958 
1973 
19531961 
Unit 3 
1950 
1960 
1976 
19561963 
Unit 4 
1953 
1963 
1985 
__ __ 
Unit 5 
1955 
1965 
__ 
Unit 6 
-- 
1967 
-- 
-- -- 
4) Nameplate MW 233 
1,270 
1,823 
138 
494 
5) Total flow (MGD) 
257 
1,267 
1,388 
234 561 
MW = megawatts; MGD = million gallons per day. 
162 
