Mercer Generating Station

Most coal fired generating stations are retired because they're outdated in one way or another. Many more are shuttered each year as a result of protests from environmental groups. Neither is the case for Mercer Generating Station, which was constructed on Duck Island in 1960.

Gottscho, Samuel H. Mercer Generating Station. 1962. Photograph. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.

The new coal plant joined the Hudson Generating Station as the most modern workhorses in PSEG's New Jersey fleet. The new facility had an output of 632 megawatts, coming from two huge 3600/3600-rpm cross compound, six flow reheat steam turbine generators. Each unit consisted of two turbines. Steam would enter into a high pressure chamber first, then through medium and low pressure chambers before actuating the generator. The condensation in each chamber is collected and returned to the boilers. Steam that has cooled during the process goes into a reheater, after which it is forced into the high pressure section of the secondary turbine. The steam then leaves the high pressure chamber of the secondary unit, after which it is split between the medium pressure chambers of both units. The generating equipment was comically large, and overwhelmed anyone standing inside the turbine hall.

Despite being one of the most modern power plants in the state, the facility was upgraded with pollution controls a number of times, at tremendous expense to PSEG. The first of which were precipitators added to the plant in 1995. The purpose of this equipment was to reduce the amount of soot expelled from the plant. This was just the beginning.

Between 2004 and 2011 the company spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to reduce pollution at the facility. A selective catalytic reduction unit set them back $100 million. Three years later, ten million was spent to swap out equipment that utilized mercury with simple carbon. Finally, $500 million was spent in 2010 to build state of the art baggers and scrubbers which further reduced toxic emissions. They spent the same amount at Hudson, the sister station in Jersey City, bringing the total bill to one billion dollars for pollution control in 2010 alone.

So much money and manpower was spent on pollution control that very little attention was directed to the generating equipment. Coal power plants were shutting down all across the nation as the cost of natural gas stayed low. Several coal powered facilities were being converted to burn natural gas but Mercer and Hudson wouldn't be so lucky. PSEG announced that both stations would be shuttered in 2017.

Mercer had already been on standby for nearly a year and a half before the closure. As a result the property was very quiet as we walked the fence line during our visit to the plant. Very few people had visited the facility since it closed, so we were on edge as we dashed across the still lot to the behemoth structure. We spent hours inside, taking photos and admiring the fascinating machinery few ever get so close to. After another year or so the plant became a favorite destination for the urban tourists of Instagram, and by 2019 the property was sold to Hillco Redeveloplent. They also purchased Hudson. Demolition work ramped up after the smokestacks were demolished in February of 2020. Only time will tell how long it will take for the Mercer Generating Station to fade from the collective memory of the state.