1

Site Description Report

Yates Power Plant

708 Dyer Road

Newnan, GA 30263

February 11, 2009

1.0 Background and Objectives

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the process of developing 

316(b) cooling water intake structure requirements that reflect the best technology

available (BTA) for minimizing adverse environmental impact for all existing 

power plants and manufacturing facilities. As part of this process, EPA staff is 

visiting electric generators and manufacturers to better understand the cooling 

water intake structure (CWIS) technologies in use at facilities, including the sitespecific characteristics of each facility and how these affect the selection and 

performance of CWIS technologies. EPA is also visiting facilities to better 

understand cooling water use and specific issues or technologies that can affect 

316(b) compliance. As part of its site visit to the McDonough Power Plant 

(McDonough), EPA also collected information on Georgia Power’s retrofitted 

recirculating cooling water system at its Yates Power Plant.

2.0 Facility Description

Yates is located on a 2400 acre site in a rural setting along the Chattahoochee 

River southwest of Atlanta, Georgia. The facility opened five generating units 

with once-through cooling in the 1950s and added two generating units with 

closed-cycle cooling in the 1970s. Yates is owned by Georgia Power and 

operates under NPDES permit GA0001473 which expires August 31, 2011.

3.0 Electricity Generation and Transmission

Yates is a baseload facility that consists of seven coal-fired generating units with 

a total generating capacity of 1250 MW. These units burn eastern bituminous 

coal from Appalachia. 

4.0 Cooling Water System and Intake Structure

The cooling water intake structures (CWISs) for Yates are located on the 

shoreline of the Chattahoochee River. One structure serves Units 1-5 and a 

second structure a few hundred feet downstream supplies Units 6&7. After Units 

1-5 converted to closed-cycle cooling, that intake structure was outfitted with fine 

mesh (3mm) Johnson wedgewire screens. Facility representatives noted that the 

wedgewire screens have operated well so far and that no maintenance has yet 

been required. The new design through-screen velocity is 0.5 feet per second 

(fps).
2

As discussed below in Section 6.0, Yates Units 1-5 converted from once-through 

cooling to closed-cycle cooling. Prior to the conversion, the facility’s design

intake flow (DIF) was 691 million gallons per day (mgd) or 480,000gal/min. 

Currently, the facility’s DIF is 57.6 mgd, a 91.6% reduction in design capacity. 

Yates Unit 1-5 intake structure has a total of three intake pumps totaling 15,000 

gpm. The combined withdrawal for the two intake structures averages about 48 

mgd.

5.0 Impingement and Entrainment Information

Yates has not conducted any source water characterization or impingement or 

entrainment studies.

6.0 Cooling Tower Feasibility

Due to problems with thermal discharges (including fish kills), the facility was 

forced to curtail electricity generation during extended heat waves coinciding with 

drought-induced low river flows.

1

 In 2004, the facility installed a 40 cell 

mechanical draft cooling tower (in a 1000 foot long back-to-back arrangement) at 

a cost of $83 million. Facility representatives believe it is currently the largest 

fiberglass cooling tower in the United States. 

The cooling towers have drift eliminators, but are not outfitted with plume 

abatement or noise control.

Facility representatives stated that, at first glance, Yates may appear to be an easy 

site to retrofit closed-cycle cooling, due to the rural location and the relatively

close proximity of the proposed tower site to the intake and discharge tunnels. 

However, a significant amount of work was involved in converting the facility:

 Condenser strengthening: additional materials were added to strengthen 

the water box.

 Tunnel strengthening: as with McDonough, the condenser piping was not 

designed to function as a high-pressure system. Yates’ circulating pumps 

were inside the power block (as opposed to in the screen house); with a 

closed-cycle system, the entire circulating system would be pressurized. 

As a result, Yates installed steel piping inside the older concrete pipes; a 

labor-intensive process at a significant cost.

 Tower basin upgrades: the towers were built in the floodplain of the river, 

which required building up the earthen base of the towers an additional 

20-30 feet to protect against flooding damage. An additional permit was 

required for construction in a floodplain, but facility representatives noted 

that this permit was not difficult to obtain.

 

1 Like McDonough, Yates was placed on a four year compliance schedule for installing the cooling towers.
3

 Additional station service lines: the energy required by the new cooling 

towers could not be supplied by the existing facility infrastructure. New 

electric lines were added from the transmission yard to a control building 

for the towers.

7.0 Debris Handling

Yates does not have significant problems with debris loading. The airburst 

system for the wedgewire screens appears to be adequate in addressing any debris 

concerns.

8.0 Repowering/Future Uses

There are currently no plans to expand generating capacity or make other 

significant operational changes at Yates.

9.0 Cooling Ponds

There are no cooling ponds onsite.

10.0 Ownership

Yates is owned by an investor-owned company, Georgia Power. Georgia Power 

provides approximately 95% of the electricity in the state, making them the single 

largest entity for promoting economic development in the state. Their rates are 

set by the Public Service Commission and any large expenditures would require 

approval before being passed along to consumers.

11.0 316(a)

The Yates permit does not contain a thermal variance. It specifies temperature 

limits at the end of a mixing zone consistent with state water quality standards of 

90 degrees F maximum and 5 degrees above the intake temperature. 

12.0 Ash Handling

EPA did not collect any information about ash handling at this site.

13.0 Air Emissions Controls

EPA did not collect any information about air controls at this site.
4

14.0 Additional Information

Facility representatives also stated that Yates will be adding a flue gas 

desulfurization (FGD) unit in the future, but that this did not affect the placement 

of the cooling towers.

Attachment A Yates Fact Sheet
5

Attachment A—Yates Fact Sheet

Please see the attached materials.