Southern completes Barry Steam Plant

Alabama Power and Southern Company Generation celebrated the completion of a new, 540 MW, combined cycle generating unit at Barry Steam Plant Wednesday.

Southern Company and Alabama Power equipped the new unit, Unit 6, with a selective catalytic reduction system (SCR) to reduce NOx emissions, making the unit's emissions rate one of the lowest in the Southeast, said Charles McCrary, president of Southern Company Generation. Units 1-5 at Plant Barry have reduced NOx emissions by about 10,000 tons per year since 1996, he said.

"We are excited to be on the cutting-edge of environmentally advanced technology. Southern Company Generation is committed to using the best technology to meet our present and future customers' growing energy demands," McCrary said. "Unit 6 is the latest example of our commitment to the future of Alabama and the Southeast."

Construction on the new unit started in July of 1998, and commercial operation started this May. Barry Unit 7, also a combined cycle unit, is expected to be on line by June 1, 2001.

Southern Company Generation is a business unit of Southern Company, the parent company of Alabama Power. Southern Company Generation currently operates 22 plants in Alabama and 66 across the Southeast, for a combined capacity of about 35,000 MW. Alabama Power serves about 1.3 million customers in the lower two-thirds of Alabama.

Edited by April C. Murelio
editor@poweronline.com