LASALLE COUNTY, IL, Sept. 22, 2009 -- GE Water helped Chicago-based Exelon Corp. implement a new cooling-lake management strategy at LaSalle County Generating Station in Illinois. Implementation of this strategy has dramatically reduced the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) used to treat the station's cooling water.
Previously, LaSalle Station, part of the Exelon Nuclear fleet, had used carbon dioxide to treat its cooling water to suppress pH levels. As a result of this initiative, LaSalle has eliminated the use of 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year as compared to the station's 2001 baseline for consumptive use. Reducing this amount of carbon dioxide to treat LaSalle Station's cooling water is equivalent to taking nearly 1,700 cars off the roads.
"Climate change is a growing concern to utilities and other industries around the world, driving us to continually seek out creative, cost-effective applications that can help us further reduce the environmental impacts of energy production as much as possible," said Exelon Senior Vice President Midwest Operations Susan Landahl.
LaSalle Station implemented GE's advanced cooling water management program to enhance its regulatory compliance and reduce its energy and water "footprint." The project is part of the Exelon 2020: Low-Carbon Roadmap strategy to reduce, offset or displace more than 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2020.
"As a longtime services provider for Exelon's entire fleet of boiling water reactor stations, GE is excited to partner with LaSalle Generating Station to showcase the environmental and economic benefits to be gained by implementing our advanced cooling lake water management program," said Heiner Markhoff, president of GE Water.
GE also has made a corporate commitment to decrease water usage in its own operations by 20 percent by 2012.
The Chicago-based utility is the nation's largest nuclear plant operator, with 17 reactor units at 10 plants in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. LaSalle County Generating Station is a 2,288 net megawatt plant powered by two boiling water reactor (BWR) units designed by GE.
About GE Energy
GE Energy (www.ge.com/energy) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies, with 2008 revenue of $29.3 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy works in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels. Numerous GE Energy products are certified under ecomagination, GE's corporate-wide initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet pressing environmental challenges.
About Exelon
Exelon Corporation is one of the nation's largest electric utilities with approximately $19 billion in annual revenues. The company has one of the industry's largest portfolios of electricity generation capacity, with a nationwide reach and strong positions in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Exelon distributes electricity to approximately 5.4 million customers in northern Illinois and southeastern Pennsylvania and natural gas to approximately 485,000 customers in the Philadelphia area. Exelon is headquartered in Chicago and trades on the NYSE under the ticker EXC.
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