Location
Polk Power Station occupies over 2,500 acres off of State Road 37 in Polk County, Florida. The station is located approximately 40 miles southeast of Tampa and about 60 miles southwest of Orlando.
Construction of the power station began in 1994 on a site selected by a public Power Plant Siting Task Force comprised of 17 citizens from environmental groups, businesses, and universities in the Tampa Electric Company service area and throughout Florida. The objective of the Power Plant Siting Task Force was to ensure that local and statewide public issues and environmental concerns relative to new power plant development were adequately and accurately considered in selecting a suitable site.
Description
Polk Power Station has a generating capacity of more than 1,400 megawatts (MW) between two combined-cycle units. Both units utilize fuel diversity to optimize performance and provide safe, reliable, cost-effective power to the community.
Unit 1 is a one-on-one dual-fuel combined cycle unit capable of burning natural gas or solid fuel through a clean-coal technology known as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) process. Tampa Electric has placed the IGCC process in Long Term Reserve Standby while utilizing Natural Gas as the most cost-effective fuel to produce power and reduce costs to their customers.
Unit 2 is a four-on-one natural gas combined cycle unit constructed in 2017 by converting four Simple Cycle Combustion Turbines into a modern, efficient combined cycle facility. Two of the four combustion turbines are dual fuel using natural gas and ULSD (Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel) oil. This fuel diversity provides Tampa Electric the opportunity to provide its customers with reliable and cost-effective power based on market demands.
Environment
Award-winning innovation and a win for customers, the environment, and the community: The Polk Power Station Regional Reclaimed Water Partnership is all this and more. The project prevents reclaimed water from the cities of Lakeland and Mulberry and Polk County from going into local waterways, where it would add nitrogen to the environment - harming marine life. Instead, that water now goes to Tampa Electric's Polk Power Station, where it is purified and used in the process of generating reliable, affordable electricity.
The Southwest Florida Water Management District is another key partner in the project, which won the 2015 Edison Award from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). The Edison is the highest honor bestowed by the EEI, which represents all U.S. investor-owned electric utilities.
The Polk Power Station Regional Reclaimed Water Partnership has also been honored by POWER magazine, winning the magazine's 2015 Water Award. In addition, in July 2015, the Tampa Bay Partnership awarded its Chair's Cup Award for Excellence in Regional Leadership to Tampa Electric for its role in the project.
