Notes from Site Visit at Florida Power and Light’s Manatee Power Plant on 

November 16, 2011

EPA conducted a site visit at Florida Power and Light’s (FP&L’s) Manatee Power Plant 

(Manatee) located in Parrish, FL on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 to learn about the 

operations at the plant, specifically waste streams associated with ash handling operations for the 

oil-fired units (Units 1 and 2). Table 2, located at the end of these notes, identifies the site visit 

participants. The presentation given by the Manatee personnel during the site visit is provided as 

Attachment 1. 

These notes describe the information collected during the site visit and the pre-site visit phone 

call, which was held on November 1, 2011. For completeness, some information provided in the 

plant’s response to EPA’s Questionnaire for the Steam Electric Power Generating Effluent 

Guidelines (referred to as the EPA survey) is included.

Plant Overview

• The Manatee plant comprises approximately 9,500 acres and typically employs 

about 100 people.

• Manatee began operations in 1976 when Unit 1 began operating. Units 1 and 2 

were both oil-fired units and were later converted to dual-fuel units in 2003 to 

provide fuel diversification. Unit 3, a combined cycle gas-fired unit, was added in 

2005.

• FPL has retained the capability to burn oil for fuel diversification during normal 

operations, to serve as a fuel source should natural gas be unavailable, and to 

enable the units to generate peak power. For example, Units 1 and 2 can generate 

up to 500 MW on natural gas, but FPL must also burn oil to generate greater 

amounts of electricity from these units (i.e., up to maximum generating capacity 

of approximately 800 MW each).

• Manatee currently operates three electric generating units at the power plant, with 

a gross generator design nameplate capacity of 2,951 MW. The table below 

contains some general information for the three generating units.

Table 1. Plant Generating Units Summary

Unit

Installation 

Date

Gross Capacity 

(MW)

Capacity 

Factor Fuel Type NOx Control

1 1976 863 20-25% #6 Fuel Oil and/or 

Natural Gas

Low NOx burner

Reburn Technology

2 1977 863 20-25% #6 Fuel Oil and/or 

Natural Gas

Low NOx burner

Reburn Technology

3 2005 472 (steam turbine)

753 (4 combustion 

turbines)

70% Natural Gas –

Combined Cycle

DLN 2.6

(Dry Low NOx 

combustion tuning)
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Unit 1 and Unit 2 Operations

• Units 1 and 2 burn either #6 fuel oil or natural gas, primarily depending on the 

current market price.

• The plant has decreased the amount of oil burned annually over the last several 

years. Currently, oil-fired steam generation reflects about 10-15% of the 

electricity generated by the plant. The oil has an average ash content of 0.05 

percent and an average sulfur content of about 1.0 percent.

• When Unit 1 or 2 is operating, the fly ash is collected daily through the 

economizer hoppers, dust collectors, and air preheater hoppers. Fly ash drops out 

of the economizer hoppers into the ash sluice pipe, where it is gravity fed to the 

ash pit. Fly ash is also sluiced from the dust collectors and air preheater hoppers. 

On average, about 0.35 million gallons of sluice water is used per month.

• Sluice water is obtained from the plant service water tanks as needed to run the 

sluicing system.

• Bottom ash is manually removed from the units during normal outage periods. 

The bottom ash is then containerized and disposed off site. Wash water from the 

cleaning of the unit is transferred to the ash pit.

• The ash pit is about 10 feet deep, 10 feet wide, and 18 feet long. Pumps transfer 

the water to the ash basins based on the level of wastewater in the pit.

Wastewater Treatment

• A water flow diagram of the plant, provided in their response to the EPA survey,

is included as Attachment 2.

• Low volume waste, including equipment area drains, is transported to the two low 

volume wastewater basins, where the water is held prior to transfer to the cooling 

water pond.

• Stormwater (both contact and noncontact) is transferred to the stormwater basin, 

which is concrete lined. The stormwater is treated through an oil/water separator, 

prior to being combined with other low volume and treated metal cleaning waste 

and discharged to the cooling pond. The plant monitors the discharge to the pond

for pH, iron, copper, oil and grease, total suspended solids, specific conductance, 

arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, and zinc.

• Ash pit water from either Unit 1 or 2, which includes ash sluice and metal 

cleaning wastewater, is transported to one of two concrete lined basins. The basin 

includes four mixers for aeration. The pH of the incoming wastewater is pH 2-3

S.U., but the plant has not monitored any other characteristics of the ash pit 

wastewater. Sodium hydroxide is added to elevate the pH, which may result in the 

precipitation of some metals. Aeration is ceased and the ash is allowed to settle 

out, prior to transferring the water to Outfall 004 (discharge to cooling water 
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pond).

• Ash is removed from the basins when not in service. Ash is pressed using a 

portable press that services multiple FP&L plants, prior to transport and disposal 

off site. FP&L currently pays $35-$50 per ton of ash for disposal in an off-site 

waste management landfill.

• The pH of the basin is raised to facilitate co-precipitation and may occasionally 

exceed 9.0 S.U. However, the pH of the water from the basin cannot be over 9.0 

S.U. after it is combined with other waste streams and discharged via OSN 004.

• The basins are lined with concrete. 

• The cooling water pond is not lined and has a depth of about 15 feet and a 

“normal” volume of 11.7 billion gallons. Once per year, Manatee staff test the 

spillway, which allows some discharge to the Little Manatee River.

• The survey response for Manatee shows a 3.84 MGD discharge from the cooling 

water pond to the Little Manatee River. However, this value was based on a one 

time emergency discharge in 2005, and normally the discharge is only 5,000 –

10,000 gallons per year during the permitted gate test.

Planned Conversion for Unit 2

• Manatee is replacing the dust collectors on Unit 2 with an electrostatic 

precipitator (ESP) in response to air regulations. The ESP is designed for full 

operation of the unit burning oil, and is expected to collect 90% of the ash 

generated by the unit. Construction began in October 2011 and is expected to be 

complete in May 2012.

• Because oil ash is stickier than coal ash, FP&L has designed the ESP to 

continuously pull ash from the hopper, rather than letting it build up in the hopper 

before removal.

• Ash from the ESP will be stored in a carbon steel storage silo, located at one end 

of the site near Units 1 and 2. Ash will be transferred up to 500 feet to the storage 

silo. FP&L has designed the silo to store up to one week’s worth of ash for both 

Units 1 and 2, if needed.

• Ash from the storage silo is moisture conditioned in a pug mill, prior to transport 

and disposal off site. This ESP ash will be disposed of in the same landfill as 

currently pressed ash. Plant personnel expect the disposal costs for the ESP ash to 

be less than the disposal costs for the pressed ash due to its lower water content 

and therefore, lower weight, associated with the ESP ash.

• FP&L will be installing ESPs at Manatee Unit 1 and Martin Units 1 and 2. 
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Table 2. Site Visit Attendees

Name Organization (Representing) Telephone E-mail

Mary Maxwell FP&L Manatee Plant 941-776-5278 Mary.Maxwell@FPL.com

Paul Callahan FP&L Manatee Plant 941-776-5215 Paul.Callahan@FPL.com

Adam Richardson FP&L Manatee Plant 941-776-5265 Adam.Richardson@FPL.com

Ron Hix Florida Power and Light 561-691-7641 Ron.Hix@FPL.com

Christian Kiernan Florida Power and Light 561-691-2781 Christian.kiernan@FPL.com

Eric Shea Florida Power and Light 561-691-2993 Eric.m.shea@FPL.com

Matthew Wetmore Florida Power and Light 561-691-2171 Matthew.Wetmore@FPL.com

Ron Jordan EPA/Office of Water 202-566-1003 jordan.ronald@epa.gov

Deb Bartram ERG (Contractor to EPA) 703-633-1669 deborah.bartram@erg.com