Mount Carmel Cogen is committed to clean energy and the preservation of the beautiful country we live in. Through tireless efforts we are ensuring a cleaner and brighter environment, complete with adequate fuel to meet our growing power needs for future generations to come. Use the slider below to see how our unique process is creating clean energy!
100% of the product removed from the ground is utilized at our fully integrated multi-step operation. Not only is the Anthracite Coal we remove from the ground cleaner burning and more reliable than even wood, but our refuse is anything but a waste product! Approximately 50% of the Anthracite removed from the ground has too much rock in it to fit our extremely high standards to be considered premium coal product we sell to our consumers.
The remaining product, referred to as refuse or culm, is turned in to electricity at Mount Carmel Cogeneration Power Plant. The culm is burned in conjunction with limestone, providing that to the PJM power grid which powers much of the Northeastern US and creating minimal emissions in the process. This means that the power you use every day at work and at home to turn on your lights, computer, or television is, in part, coal provided electricity!
Mt. Carmel Cogen is cleaning up coal refuse piles that have long doted the landscape in Northeastern Pennsylvania and beyond. Much of this material has been piled and discarded for more than 100 years, we have found new life and purpose for this refuse, turning it in to one of the most utilized and relatively underappreciated (until you don’t have it) resources, electrical power! If you are a resident of Northeastern Pennsylvania you can largely thank Susquehanna Anthracite and Mount Carmel Cogen for the diminishing coal piles in your region. Once this product is used to create electricity, Susquehanna Anthracite has taken yet another step… to restore these properties to the beautiful, useful spaces they were always intended to be. The next time you’re watching a soccer game on a beautiful new field you can wonder to yourself, was this site a reclaimed mining operation too?
Learn More About the Cogeneration ProcessMt. Carmel Cogen is able to fill in and fully reclamate abandoned strip mine pits by utilizing its Ash from the cogeneration process. These pits have been abandoned for decades in some cases, causing great threats to public safety and the landscape of the area. Using the ash waste from the cogeneration process as fill, we are able to fill these pits in, and plant trees and grass on top of them. This process eliminates a great public safety threat, while also helping to return the environment to its original contours. These lands have been used for everything from athletic fields, to new forest land.
Started in 1990 Mt. Carmel Cogen is a cogeneration power plant with 40 megawatts net production. It burns high-ash anthracite coal waste (culm) fuel roughly 3,250 btu mixed with limestone. This provides electrical power to the PJM power grid which services much of the Northeastern United States. It also uses excess energy to provide hot water to an adjacent 10 acre greenhouse. The plant is a community leader employing 47 members of the area, cleaning local streets through volunteer work, and sponsering little league teams.
Mt. Carmel Cogen is actively involved in the local community.
Here are some of the activities with which we are involved: