Plant Bowen: Georgia Power Launches Coal Ash Use Project 

Millions of tons of stored coal ash would be collected from Georgia Power’s Plant Bowen under a new project involving the utility and Eco Material Technologies.

The coal ash would be used in concrete to construct bridges, roads, and buildings in Georgia and the greater Southeast. Coal ash has been demonstrated to provide significant value to certain products, such as concrete, in which it adds strength and durability.

Georgia Power is calling it the single largest beneficial use project of its kind in the U.S., and the largest ever for the utility.

Eco Material Technologies, a producer of sustainable cementitious materials and cement replacement products, will manage the project at Plant Bowen.

This is the latest development since Georgia Power partnered with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to open a research facility at Plant Bowen – the Ash Beneficial Use Center – to identify, test and speed the development of beneficial uses of coal ash.

The facility allows for pilot projects and testing of technologies to continue to increase the recycling and use of coal ash.

Infrastructure installation to accommodate the work at Plant Bowen will begin immediately, with ash removal expected to begin by 2024 and increasing to 600,000 tons of ash per year.

The final amount of coal ash harvested and used under this project is expected to be 9 million tons in total.

Georgia Power already recycles 85% of all ash and gypsum, including more than 90% of fly ash, it produces from operations for various beneficial uses such as concrete production as well as other construction products.

Plant Bowen is a 3.5-GW coal-fired power plant situated near Euharlee, Georgia. It is one of the nation’s largest capacity coal-fired plants and its four units were brought online in the 1970s.