PPL
 | |
| Type | Public (NYSE: PPL) |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 2 North 9th St. Allentown, PA 18101 |
| Area served | DE, MD, MT, PA; United Kingdom |
| Key people | James H. Miller, CEO |
| Industry | Electric Producer & Utility Natural Gas Utility |
| Products | Electricity, Natural Gas |
| Revenue | $6.50 billion (2007)[1] |
| Net income | ▲ $1.29 billion (2007)[1] |
| Employees | 11,149 (2007) |
| Subsidiaries | PPL Generation PPL EnergyPlus PPL Energy Services PPL Global PPL Electric Utilities PPL Gas Utilities PPL Solutions PPL Montana PPL Renewable Energy |
| Website | PPLweb.com |
{{#badges: Climate change |CoalSwarm}}
PPL, formerly known as PP&L or Pennsylvania Power and Light, is an electric company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It currently controls over 11,000 megawatts (MW) of electrical generating capacity in the United States, primarily in Pennsylvania and Montana, and delivers electricity to customers in the United Kingdom. PPL recently sold all subsidiaries in Latin America and its Telcom subsidiary (PPL Telcom), and is now based solely in the US and UK.
The majority of PPL's power plants burn coal, oil, or natural gas. PPL recently has invested heavily in peaking plants. These plants require few operators and have a high profit margin due to their ability to rapidly come online when the price of electricity spikes. PPL's largest plant is the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, a 2,352 MW nuclear power plant PPL Susquehanna, located on its namesake river seven miles northeast of Berwick, Pennsylvania.
The company is publicly-traded on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol NYSE: PPL.
Contents
Congressional campaign contributions
PPL is one of the largest energy company contributors to both Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress. These contributions total $221,900 to the 110th US Congress (as of the third quarter), the largest of which has been to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) for $28,000. Senator Specter, for his part, has repeatedly voted with the coal industry on energy, war and climate bills.[1]
Contributions like this from fossil fuel companies to members of Congress are often seen as a political barrier to pursuing clean energy.
More information on coal industry contributions to Congress can be found at FollowtheCoalMoney.org, a project sponsored by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Oil Change International and Appalachian Voices.
Power portfolio
Out of its total 12,611 MW of electric generating capacity in 2005 (1.18% of the U.S. total), PPL produced 47.4% from coal, 20.6% from nuclear, 17.8% from oil, 7.5% from hydroelectricity, and 7.1% from natural gas. PPL owns power plants in Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania; 67.6% of the company's generating capacity comes from power plants in Pennsylvania.[2]
Existing coal-fired power plants
PPL owned 13 coal-fired generating stations in 2005, with 5,982 MW of capacity. Here is a list of PPL's coal power plants:[2][3][4]
| Plant Name | State | County | Year(s) Built | Capacity | 2007 CO2 Emissions | 2006 SO2 Emissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colstrip | MT | Rosebud | 1975, 1976, 1984, 1986 | 2272 MW | 16,783,000 tons | 14,298 tons |
| Montour | PA | Montour | 1972, 1973 | 1625 MW | 8,964,000 tons | 129,357 tons |
| Brunner Island | PA | York | 1961, 1965, 1969 | 1559 MW | 9,118,000 tons | 93,545 tons |
| Martins Creek | PA | Northampton | 1954, 1956 | 312 MW | 3,007,000 tons | 30,058 tons |
| Corette | MT | Yellowstone | 1968 | 173 MW | 1,498,000 tons | 4,401 tons |
In 2006, PPL's 5 coal-fired power plants emitted 39.4 million tons of CO2 (0.65% of all U.S. CO2 emissions) and 272,000 tons of SO2 (1.81% of all U.S. SO2 emissions).
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 PPL Corporation, BusinessWeek Company Insight Center, accessed July 2008.
- ↑ Jump up to: 2.0 2.1 Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005, Energy Information Administration, accessed April 2008.
- ↑ Environmental Integrity Project, Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants, July 2007.
- ↑ Dig Deeper, Carbon Monitoring for Action database, accessed June 2008.
Related SourceWatch Articles
External Articles
Wikipedia also has an article on PPL. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.
