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Hearn Generating Station

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The Richard L. Hearn Generating Station (named after Richard Lankaster Hearn ) is a decommissioned electrical generating station in Toronto , Ontario, Canada. The plant was originally fired by coal , but later converted to burn natural gas. The plant has been described as "Pharaonic in scale", and encompasses 650 thousand cubic metres of space—large enough to fit 12 Parthenons inside.

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100-592: The plant is located at 440 Unwin Avenue in Toronto's Port Lands area, directly south of the foot of Carlaw Avenue, across the shipping channel and next to the recently opened Portlands Energy Centre . The Richard L. Hearn Generating Station, together with the nearby Ashbridges Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant sewage sludge incinerator stack and the Commissioners Street waste incinerator stack, stand as towering landmarks of

200-508: A heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) with a live steam temperature between 420 and 580 °C. The condenser of the Rankine cycle is usually cooled by water from a lake, river, sea or cooling towers . This temperature can be as low as 15 °C. Plant size is important in the cost of the plant. The larger plant sizes benefit from economies of scale (lower initial cost per kilowatt) and improved efficiency. For large-scale power generation,

300-430: A 50.00 MJ/kg (21,500 BTU/lb) LHV: a 11% increase. Efficiency of the turbine is increased when combustion can run hotter, so the working fluid expands more. Therefore, efficiency is limited by whether the first stage of turbine blades can survive higher temperatures. Cooling and materials research are continuing. A common technique, adopted from aircraft, is to pressurise hot-stage turbine blades with coolant. This

400-686: A U-shape loop around the area. The line branched from the Union Station Rail Corridor just west of the Don River, passed through the Keating Yard just east of the Don Roadway, crossed to the south side of Lake Shore Boulevard, turned south on the west side of Leslie Street, then ran west roughly parallel to Unwin Avenue to terminate at the Port of Toronto facility west of Cherry Street. The right-of-way

500-634: A backup or supplementary power. It is named after American professor D. Y. Cheng who patented the design in 1976. The efficiency of a heat engine, the fraction of input heat energy that can be converted to useful work, is limited by the temperature difference between the heat entering the engine and the exhaust heat leaving the engine. In a thermal power station , water is the working medium. High pressure steam requires strong, bulky components. High temperatures require expensive alloys made from nickel or cobalt , rather than inexpensive steel . These alloys limit practical steam temperatures to 655 °C while

600-400: A bit taller than the first five. The eight short chimneys were a source of air pollution in local neighborhoods and downtown Toronto and also fly ash and other particulates. The station contributed to Toronto's smog problem. The eight chimneys were demolished and electrostatic precipitators were added for the 200 MW units when the large smokestack was built. The new single tall smokestack

700-415: A business add plant capacity as it is needed. Multiple-pressure reheat steam cycles are applied to combined-cycle systems with gas turbines with exhaust gas temperatures near 600 °C. Single- and multiple-pressure non-reheat steam cycles are applied to combined-cycle systems with gas turbines that have exhaust gas temperatures of 540 °C or less. Selection of the steam cycle for a specific application

800-525: A bygone industrial era in the Portlands area of Toronto (all three facilities are no longer in operation, but their towering smokestacks still stand). The property was sold to Studios of America in 2018. The R. L. Hearn Generating Station was the site of Canada's first 100 MW steam turbo-generator set. The station sits in what was once Ashbridge's Bay , a shallow marsh that was filled in with rubble from downtown construction sites from 1911 to 1950s. The station

900-446: A combined heat and power (CHP) plant. In general, combined cycle efficiencies in service are over 50% on a lower heating value and Gross Output basis. Most combined cycle units, especially the larger units, have peak, steady-state efficiencies on the LHV basis of 55 to 59%. A limitation of combined cycles is that efficiency is reduced when not running at continuous output. During start up,

1000-857: A large gas turbine (operating by the Brayton cycle ). The turbine's hot exhaust powers a steam power plant (operating by the Rankine cycle ). This is a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant. These achieve a best-of-class real (see below) thermal efficiency of around 64% in base-load operation. In contrast, a single cycle steam power plant is limited to efficiencies from 35 to 42%. Many new power plants utilize CCGTs. Stationary CCGTs burn natural gas or synthesis gas from coal . Ships burn fuel oil . Multiple stage turbine or steam cycles can also be used, but CCGT plants have advantages for both electricity generation and marine power. The gas turbine cycle can often start very quickly, which gives immediate power. This avoids

1100-519: A location shoot for the Star Trek: Discovery episode "Brother". Additionally, it was used as a film location for Shazam! . Furthermore, the station was also used as a filming location for Disney Channel original films (DCOM) Zombies 2 , known formally in the Disney trilogy as Seabrook Power and is where the musical number 'Flesh & Bone' takes place. On June 5, 2014, the building was used for

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1200-468: A major industrial and shipping hub; however, this hope was not fulfilled. By the 1970s, most industries had left the area, and much of the land was polluted from former heavy manufacturing and oil refinery operations. By the 1980s, the Port Lands were used primarily for light industry, as well as for municipal facilities such as salt storage. In the early 2000s, several film production studios were built in

1300-520: A marine CCGT safer by permitting a ship to operate with equipment failures. A flexible stationary plant can make more money. Duct burning raises the flue temperature, which increases the quantity or temperature of the steam (e.g. to 84 bar, 525 degree Celsius). This improves the efficiency of the steam cycle. Supplementary firing lets the plant respond to fluctuations of electrical load, because duct burners can have very good efficiency with partial loads. It can enable higher steam production to compensate for

1400-552: A means of load control or load shifting since ice can be made during periods of low power demand and, potentially in the future the anticipated high availability of other resources such as renewables during certain periods. Combustion technology is a proprietary but very active area of research, because fuels, gasification and carburation all affect fuel efficiency. A typical focus is to combine aerodynamic and chemical computer simulations to find combustor designs that assure complete fuel burn up, yet minimize both pollution and dilution of

1500-422: A more efficient steam cycle. However, a multi-shaft system is about 5% higher in initial cost. The overall plant size and the associated number of gas turbines required can also determine which type of plant is more economical. A collection of single shaft combined cycle power plants can be more costly to operate and maintain, because there are more pieces of equipment. However, it can save interest costs by letting

1600-407: A percentage of the lower heating value of the fuel consumed, can be over 60% when operating new, i.e. unaged, and at continuous output which are ideal conditions. As with single cycle thermal units, combined cycle units may also deliver low temperature heat energy for industrial processes, district heating and other uses. This is called cogeneration and such power plants are often referred to as

1700-512: A roof shingle manufacturing and a waste transfer station on the site of a deactivated incinerator. The Hearn Generating Station smokestack (215 metres (705 ft) in height), together with the Ashbridges Bay sewage sludge incinerator stack and the Commissioners Street waste incinerator stack stand as towering landmarks of a bygone industrial era. All three facilities are no longer in operation. The Pinewood Toronto Studios (formerly FilmPort )

1800-451: A second plant, while nearby residents opposed any kind of power generation plant in the area. A proposal was made by Enwave (the former Toronto District Heating Corporation) and Constellation Energy to install advanced gas turbines and cogeneration inside the station and restore the station's control rooms, turbine hall and building exterior as a historical, filmmaking and education centre. The Minister of Energy, Donna Cansfield rejected

1900-434: A single electrical generator on a single shaft. This arrangement is simpler to operate, smaller, with a lower startup cost. Single-shaft arrangements can have less flexibility and reliability than multi-shaft systems. With some expense, there are ways to add operational flexibility: Most often, the operator desires to operate the gas turbine as a peaking plant. In these plants, the steam turbine's shaft can be disconnected with

2000-602: A synchro-self-shifting (SSS) clutch, for start up or for simple cycle operation of the gas turbine. Another less common set of options enable more heat or standalone operation of the steam turbine to increase reliability: Duct burning, perhaps with a fresh air blower in the duct and a clutch on the gas turbine side of the shaft. A multi-shaft system usually has only one steam system for up to three gas turbines. Having only one large steam turbine and heat sink has economies of scale and can have lower cost operations and maintenance. A larger steam turbine can also use higher pressures, for

2100-556: A thermodynamic cycle that operates between the gas-turbine's high firing temperature and the waste heat temperature from the condensers of the steam cycle. This large range means that the Carnot efficiency of the cycle is high. The actual efficiency, while lower than the Carnot efficiency, is still higher than that of either plant on its own. The electric efficiency of a combined cycle power station, if calculated as electric energy produced as

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2200-626: A typical set would be a 270 MW primary gas turbine coupled to a 130 MW secondary steam turbine, giving a total output of 400 MW. A typical power station might consist of between 1 and 6 such sets. Gas turbines for large-scale power generation are manufactured by at least four separate groups – General Electric, Siemens, Mitsubishi-Hitachi, and Ansaldo Energia. These groups are also developing, testing and/or marketing gas turbine sizes in excess of 300 MW (for 60 Hz applications) and 400 MW (for 50 Hz applications). Combined cycle units are made up of one or more such gas turbines, each with

2300-474: A waste heat steam generator arranged to supply steam to a single or multiple steam turbines, thus forming a combined cycle block or unit. Combined cycle block sizes offered by three major manufacturers (Alstom, General Electric and Siemens) can range anywhere from 50 MW to well over 1300 MW with costs approaching $ 670/kW. The heat recovery boiler is item 5 in the COGAS figure shown above. Hot gas turbine exhaust enters

2400-430: A water washing procedure. A simpler and less expensive purification system will do the same job for light crude and light distillates. A magnesium additive system may also be needed to reduce the corrosive effects if vanadium is present. Fuels requiring such treatment must have a separate fuel-treatment plant and a system of accurate fuel monitoring to assure reliable, low-maintenance operation of gas turbines. Xcel Energy

2500-508: A wider range of temperatures or heat to electric power. Systems burning low quality fuels such as brown coal or peat might use relatively expensive closed-cycle helium turbines as the topping cycle to avoid even more expensive fuel processing and gasification that would be needed by a conventional gas turbine. A typical single-shaft system has one gas turbine, one steam turbine, one generator and one heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The gas turbine and steam turbine are both coupled in tandem to

2600-406: Is a simplified form of combined cycle where the steam turbine is eliminated by injecting steam directly into the combustion turbine. This has been used since the mid 1970s and allows recovery of waste heat with less total complexity, but at the loss of the additional power and redundancy of a true combined cycle system. It has no additional steam turbine or generator, and therefore it cannot be used as

2700-471: Is also bled-off in proprietary ways to improve the aerodynamic efficiencies of the turbine blades. Different vendors have experimented with different coolants. Air is common but steam is increasingly used. Some vendors might now utilize single-crystal turbine blades in the hot section, a technique already common in military aircraft engines. The efficiency of CCGT and GT can also be boosted by pre-cooling combustion air. This increases its density, also increasing

2800-419: Is also some development of modified Rankine cycles. Two promising areas are ammonia/water mixtures, and turbines that utilize supercritical carbon dioxide. Modern CCGT plants also need software that is precisely tuned to every choice of fuel, equipment, temperature, humidity and pressure. When a plant is improved, the software becomes a moving target. CCGT software is also expensive to test, because actual time

2900-515: Is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy . On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turbine ( CCGT ) plant, which is a kind of gas-fired power plant . The same principle is also used for marine propulsion, where it is called a combined gas and steam (COGAS) plant. Combining two or more thermodynamic cycles improves overall efficiency, which reduces fuel costs. The principle

3000-418: Is determined by an economic evaluation that considers a plant's installed cost, fuel cost and quality, duty cycle, and the costs of interest, business risks, and operations and maintenance. By combining both gas and steam cycles, high input temperatures and low output temperatures can be achieved. The efficiency of the cycles add, because they are powered by the same fuel source. So, a combined cycle plant has

3100-925: Is going to build two natural gas power plants in the Midwestern United States that can mix 30% hydrogen with the natural gas. Intermountain Power Plant is being retrofitted to a natural gas/hydrogen power plant that can run on 30% hydrogen as well, and is scheduled to run on pure hydrogen by 2045. However others think low-carbon hydrogen should be used for things which are harder to decarbonize , such as making fertilizer , so there may not be enough for electricity generation. Combined-cycle systems can have single-shaft or multi-shaft configurations. Also, there are several configurations of steam systems. The most fuel-efficient power generation cycles use an unfired heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) with modular pre-engineered components. These unfired steam cycles are also

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3200-647: Is home to Cherry Beach, parkland similar to the Toronto Islands but surrounded by a mostly vacant, industrial setting. Regatta Road is a short street that runs south of Unwin Avenue just east of Cherry Street along the Martin Goodman Trail. It is home to a number of rowing and sailing clubs: Other commercial uses also exist on the land. The vacated factory spaces have become home to a small cultural contingent, consisting mostly of musician jam spaces and recording studios. The old box factory on Polson Pier houses

3300-479: Is often readily available in rural areas. Gas turbines burn mainly natural gas and light oil. Crude oil, residual, and some distillates contain corrosive components and as such require fuel treatment equipment. In addition, ash deposits from these fuels result in gas turbine deratings of up to 15%. They may still be economically attractive fuels however, particularly in combined-cycle plants. Sodium and potassium are removed from residual, crude and heavy distillates by

3400-424: Is situated beside the now defunct Richard L. Hearn Generating Station. The Toronto Transit Commission has two facilities in the Port Lands. Its Lakeshore garage on Commissioners Street services Wheel-Trans minibuses. The TTC's Leslie Barns on Leslie Street is a maintenance and storage facility for streetcars. Toronto Hydro has a 49,000-square-metre (12-acre) facility at 500 Commissioners Street. In 2009,

3500-482: Is supplied to the low-temperature turbine. A super heater can be provided in the low-pressure circuit. Some part of the feed water from the low-pressure zone is transferred to the high-pressure economizer by a booster pump . This economizer heats up the water to its saturation temperature . This saturated water goes through the high-temperature zone of the boiler and is supplied to the high-pressure turbine . The HRSG can be designed to burn supplementary fuel after

3600-447: Is that after completing its cycle in the first engine, the working fluid (the exhaust) is still hot enough that a second subsequent heat engine can extract energy from the heat in the exhaust. Usually the heat passes through a heat exchanger so that the two engines can use different working fluids. By generating power from multiple streams of work, the overall efficiency can be increased by 50–60%. That is, from an overall efficiency of

3700-410: Is the gas turbine power plant cycle is the topping cycle. It depicts the heat and work transfer process taking place in the high temperature region. The cycle a-b-c-d-e-f-a which is the Rankine steam cycle takes place at a lower temperature and is known as the bottoming cycle. Transfer of heat energy from high temperature exhaust gas to water and steam takes place in a waste heat recovery boiler in

3800-686: Is to the south between the ship channel and the lake. It serves the Outer Harbour Marina. The Don Roadway makes a connection with the south end of the Don Valley Parkway . Carlaw Avenue and Logan Avenue cross from the north side of Lake Shore Boulevard to Commissioners Street. Other minor streets entirely within the northerly area are Bouchette Street (named for Joseph Bouchette surveyor of Upper Canada in 1793), Saulter Street South, Basin Street, Villiers Street, Munition Street and Polson Street. In

3900-480: Is too close to the Portlands natural gas generating plant. The nearly abandoned plant attracted photographers and urban explorers who published their work on websites and in photography exhibits in recent years. On June 15, 2008, Ryan Nyenhuis, an urban explorer trespassing in the plant fell three storeys into a coal chute, and was trapped for three hours when he became pinned under a steel plate. He suffered serious injuries and died two days later in hospital. During

4000-496: The Canadian Union of Operating Engineers and General Workers (CUOE Local 100) in 1960. The Richard L. Hearn plant reached full capacity of 1200 MW for the first time on March 22, 1961. At full load the boilers burned about 400 tonnes of coal per hour, and the turbines and other equipment required about 36 million gallons of cooling water from Lake Ontario per hour. Total construction cost was CA$ 156 million . The turbine hall

4100-527: The Portlands Energy Centre on the site of the Hearn, but the actual plant, opened in 2008 sits next to Hearn. In 2002, Ontario Power Generation announced that Studios of America and Comweb Group (headed by Paul Bronfman ) would be leasing the property of the former generating station and had plans to construct a 28 thousand square metre multipurpose film production studio called Great Lakes Studios on

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4200-408: The super heater , then passes through the evaporator and finally through the economiser section as it flows out from the boiler . Feed water comes in through the economizer and then exits after having attained saturation temperature in the water or steam circuit. Finally it flows through the evaporator and super heater. If the temperature of the gases entering the heat recovery boiler is higher, then

4300-438: The 1880s, Gooderham and Worts was heavily using the marsh to dispose of waste from pigs and cattle, as well as wheat swill from their distilling operations. Up to 80,000 gallons (almost 364,000 L) per day of liquid manure drained into the marsh. The once natural area had now become an open sewage dump and a health hazard. A local newspaper described the situation as "a malarial swamp...teeming with pestilence and disease." By

4400-505: The 1890s, the potential threat of a cholera outbreak forced the city to act. In 1892, after the city threatened legal action, Gooderham and Worts installed a filtration system for waste. In 1893, City engineer Edward Henry Keating (1844–1912) had the Keating Channel constructed to redirect the flow of the Don River west into Toronto Harbour . This improved the Don's flow but did not resolve

4500-780: The 1920s. The marsh was eliminated between Cherry and Leslie Streets, and the Keating Channel became the sole outlet for the Don River. In the 1950s, the Leslie Spit , the Hearn Generating Station , the Commissioners Incinerator and the Gardiner Expressway were built, the latter over the mouth of the Don River. There was a hope that the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway would make the Port Lands

4600-464: The 1960s the station employed up to 600 people. Many Ontario Hydro (later Ontario Power Generation) operators, maintainers, technicians and professionals began their careers, and were trained at the station and then went on to work at other plants and Ontario's CANDU nuclear stations. The station at first had four smaller chimneys, one for each of the four boilers. The construction of the four 200 MW units added four more chimneys. The last three were

4700-611: The 1990s the Hearn Generating Station was used as a filming location in many Canadian television productions, including Goosebumps (it served as the Dark Falls Chemical Factory on the Season 2 episode Welcome to Dead House ), Once a Thief and Animorphs . It was usually used to substitute as an industrial factory because of its basic industrial appearance and its iconic tall smokestack. This trend decreased in

4800-651: The City of Toronto's Waterfront Secretariat, or 20 years, according to Studios of America). Subsequent reports indicated that the lease-holders are Paul Vaughan of Studios America and real estate developer Mario Cortellucci, with no reference to Comweb Group. The Ontario government announced in April 2005 that the Portlands Energy Centre would not be part of the approved 2 500 MW of new power production in Ontario coming online in

4900-449: The Port Lands and protect the area from flooding by naturalizing the mouth of the Don River. There was also the goal to prepare for residential development and create more parks within the Port Lands. The Ashbridge streetcar line was an early public transit service in the Port Lands. It opened on November 5, 1917 to serve workers employed at munitions factories in the Port Lands during World War I . The City of Toronto constructed and owned

5000-459: The Port Lands created as part of Waterfront Toronto's Port Lands Flood Protection Project. The waters of the Don River made a 90-degree turn into the Keating Channel, creating a bottleneck that often leads to flooding. In 2024, Waterfront Toronto completed a channel running south from the Don River, and then west between Commissioners Street and the Shipping Channel to provide a second outlet for

5100-733: The Toronto Luminato Festival Big Bang Bash, their 2nd annual fundraising gala. It also featured the Yves Saint Laurent Opening Night Party later that evening. In 2015 the building was used for UNSOUND hosted by Luminato Festival. In 2016 Luminato Festival used the building for its festival hub where Sunn O))) performed for the first time. Port Lands, Toronto The Port Lands (also known as Portlands ) of Toronto , Ontario , Canada are an industrial and recreational neighbourhood located about 5 kilometres south-east of downtown, located on

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5200-399: The addition of scrubbers to the Hearn and proposed to return the station to service. On March 16, 1990, Ontario Hydro announced the restart of two units (7 & 8) to meet demand for the winter of 1991. The restart had a projected cost of $ 69 million . Work on the restart was well underway when the new New Democratic Party government of Premier Bob Rae cancelled the project. The site

5300-703: The area. In 2001, the City of Toronto, the Province of Ontario and the federal government jointly created the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation, today known as Waterfront Toronto , to plan for the renewal and redevelopment of the Port Lands. By this time the Port Lands were considered to be the largest under-developed and under-used urban space in North America. In 2017, Waterfront Toronto received $ 1.25 billion from municipal, provincial and federal levels of government to clean up

5400-514: The bottoming cycle. During the constant pressure process 4-1 the exhaust gases from the gas turbine reject heat. The feed water, wet and super heated steam absorb some of this heat in the process a-b, b-c and c-d. The steam power plant takes its input heat from the high temperature exhaust gases from a gas turbine power plant. The steam thus generated can be used to drive a steam turbine . The Waste Heat Recovery Boiler (WHRB) has 3 sections: Economiser, evaporator and superheater. The Cheng cycle

5500-498: The capital costs of combined cycle power is relatively low, at around $ 1000/kW, making it one of the cheapest types of generation to install. The thermodynamic cycle of the basic combined cycle consists of two power plant cycles. One is the Joule or Brayton cycle which is a gas turbine cycle and the other is the Rankine cycle which is a steam turbine cycle. The cycle 1-2-3-4-1 which

5600-456: The early 2000s but the generating station still appears on TV from time to time, including in 12 Monkeys from 2015 to 2018 as Raritan Valley National Laboratory, the home of a time machine in a post apocalyptic world. In 2010, the station was used as the backdrop for the climactic scene of the movie RED , other scenes of which were shot in the Toronto area. In 2018, the station was also used for

5700-448: The east and west since the R. L. Hearn closed, which are becoming overloaded, especially in the summer. On June 21, 2010, architecture firm Behnisch Architekten presented a proposal for converting the Hearn site into a three-pad arena. This plan did not proceed. The facility remains in the hands of the lease-holders with options that include extensions lasting until 2041. The property is not suitable for residential development because it

5800-600: The energy harvested from solar radiation with another fuel to cut fuel costs and environmental impact (See: ISCC section ). Many next generation nuclear power plants can use the higher temperature range of a Brayton top cycle, as well as the increase in thermal efficiency offered by a Rankine bottoming cycle. Where the extension of a gas pipeline is impractical or cannot be economically justified, electricity needs in remote areas can be met with small-scale combined cycle plants using renewable fuels. Instead of natural gas, these gasify and burn agricultural and forestry waste, which

5900-584: The entire plant was converted to burn natural gas with four units retaining the option to burn coal. In December 1972, Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed called the billion cubic metres of Alberta natural gas the station was burning annually "an appalling waste of natural gas" at the price of about $ 0.035 per cubic metre, and he charged that Ontario was getting a "cheap ride" at Alberta's expense. The station operated burning natural gas until 1983. Units 1–5 were mothballed between 1978 and 1979. Conversion to natural gas reduced pollution but increased operating costs and

6000-400: The expansion ratio of the turbine. This is practised in hot climates and also has the effect of increasing power output. This is achieved by evaporative cooling of water using a moist matrix placed in the turbine's inlet, or by using Ice storage air conditioning . The latter has the advantage of greater improvements due to the lower temperatures available. Furthermore, ice storage can be used as

6100-577: The facility had 189 solar panels to generate 36 kilowatts (kW) of electricity for internal use. Starting in 2013, the Toronto Port Lands Company created a "concrete campus" at 575 Commissioners Street near Leslie Street. This consolidated the operations of several concrete companies including Essroc, Lafarge, Metrix, and St. Mary's into one location. The campus freed up the companies' former spaces at other port locations for cleanup and redevelopment. Other industrial include road salt storage,

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6200-407: The failure of another unit. Also, coal can be burned in the steam generator as an economical supplementary fuel. Supplementary firing can raise exhaust temperatures from 600 °C (GT exhaust) to 800 or even 1000 °C. Supplemental firing does not raise the efficiency of most combined cycles. For single boilers it can raise the efficiency if fired to 700–750 °C; for multiple boilers however,

6300-470: The flexibility of the plant should be the major attraction. "Maximum supplementary firing" is the condition when the maximum fuel is fired with the oxygen available in the gas turbine exhaust. Combined cycle plants are usually powered by natural gas , although fuel oil , synthesis gas or other fuels can be used. The supplementary fuel may be natural gas, fuel oil, or coal. Biofuels can also be used. Integrated solar combined cycle power stations combine

6400-557: The former Don River delta and most of Ashbridge's Bay . Approximate geographical borders are the Gardiner Expressway / Don Valley Parkway ramps to the north and west, Lake Shore Boulevard to the north, Lake Ontario on the three remaining sides: the Inner Harbour to the west, Ashbridge's Bay to the east and the open waters of Lake Ontario to the south. Landmarks include the Portlands Energy Centre , Leslie Barns (streetcar facility), Ashbridges Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant , and

6500-407: The gas turbine. Supplementary burners are also called duct burners . Duct burning is possible because the turbine exhaust gas (flue gas) still contains some oxygen . Temperature limits at the gas turbine inlet force the turbine to use excess air, above the optimal stoichiometric ratio to burn the fuel. Often in gas turbine designs part of the compressed air flow bypasses the burner in order to cool

6600-607: The hot exhaust gases. Some combustors inject other materials, such air or steam, to reduce pollution by reducing the formation of nitrates and ozone. Another active area of research is the steam generator for the Rankine cycle. Typical plants already use a two-stage steam turbine, reheating the steam between the two stages. When the heat-exchangers' thermal conductivity can be improved, efficiency improves. As in nuclear reactors, tubes might be made thinner (e.g. from stronger or more corrosion-resistant steel). Another approach might use silicon carbide sandwiches, which do not corrode. There

6700-426: The input temperature to the turbine (the firing temperature), is relatively high (900 to 1,400 °C). The output temperature of the flue gas is also high (450 to 650 °C). This is therefore high enough to provide heat for a second cycle which uses steam as the working fluid (a Rankine cycle ). In a combined cycle power plant, the heat of the gas turbine's exhaust is used to generate steam by passing it through

6800-545: The line but had the Toronto Railway Company (TRC) operate it. The double-track line ran south from Queen Street, crossed over the Grand Trunk Railway tracks and the Keating Channel on a trestle, following the Don Roadway and turned west on Commissioners Street running in a reserved right-of-way that terminated at Cherry Street. At each end, the line had a single track terminus without a turning loop or wye;

6900-515: The line used bidirectional streetcars supplied by the TRC. The Toronto Transportation Commission took over the TRC and the Ashbridge line on September 1, 1921. On September 19, 1924, the line was replaced by buses after the streetcar trestle over the Keating Channel was deemed to be unsafe for further use. The Toronto Port Lands Company owned the last remaining railway line in the Port Lands, which made

7000-431: The lower temperature of a steam plant is fixed by the temperature of the cooling water. With these limits, a steam plant has a fixed upper efficiency of 35–42%. An open circuit gas turbine cycle has a compressor , a combustor and a turbine . For gas turbines the amount of metal that must withstand the high temperatures and pressures is small, and lower quantities of expensive materials can be used. In this type of cycle,

7100-427: The lowest in initial cost, and they are often part of a single shaft system that is installed as a unit. Supplementary-fired and multishaft combined-cycle systems are usually selected for specific fuels, applications or situations. For example, cogeneration combined-cycle systems sometimes need more heat, or higher temperatures, and electricity is a lower priority. Multishaft systems with supplementary firing can provide

7200-488: The marsh provided habitat for birds and other animals. The area was connected to the Toronto Islands archipelago until a violent storm in 1858 created a natural channel break turning the archipelago into a series of islands to the west. Pollution problems developed by the mid 19th century because of industrial development along the harbour and the lower Don River in addition to the use of the marsh for sewage disposal. By

7300-471: The name Toronto Port Lands Company. TPLC is a City corporation that manages real estate assets and promotes development in the Port Lands. With respect to development, it works closely with Waterfront Toronto. TPLC is the largest landowner in the Port Lands with 160 hectares (400 acres) in its portfolio, and acts as landlord with over 80 tenants as of 2015. Ookwemin Minising is a 22-hectare (54-acre) island in

7400-568: The need for separate expensive peaker plants , or lets a ship maneuver. Over time the secondary steam cycle will warm up, improving fuel efficiency and providing further power. In November 2013, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE assessed the levelised cost of energy for newly built power plants in the German electricity sector . They gave costs of between 78 and €100 /MWh for CCGT plants powered by natural gas. In addition

7500-480: The next few years. The Independent Electricity System Operator warned of rolling black-outs in Toronto if 250 MW are not added by 2008, with an additional 250 MW required by 2010. However, in February 2006 this decision was reversed, a new plan emerged proposing a new plant be built next to the Hearn site. Toronto mayor David Miller lobbied to have Hearn restored in some capacity to provide that power rather than build

7600-569: The now out-of-service Hearn Generating Station . There is also parkland such as Cherry Beach and the Leslie Street Spit . Ashbridges Bay Marsh once existed at the delta of the Don River in Toronto. The marsh extended as far east as today's Leslie Street. Much of the Port Lands were initially part of Ashbridge's Bay, which consisted of a five-square-kilometre triangular area of marshes and ponds surrounded by sandbars. The water and reeds in

7700-478: The plant's efficiency was much lower than today's combined cycle and cogeneration plants. The last three 200 MW units at the plant resumed burning coal along with natural gas but they were phased out of operation in July 1983, due to concerns about increased air pollution in Toronto and an abundant energy supply in the province. The staff level had been reduced to around 180 when power production stopped in 1983. Many of

7800-546: The pollution problem. Also, the 90-degree curve of the river into the concrete-lined Keating Channel increased the risk of flooding in the Port Lands. In 1912, the Toronto Harbour Commission started to develop the Ashbridge's Bay Reclamation Scheme. The plan was to drain and fill in the marsh in order to address health concerns, and to develop the area for industry and shipping. By 1922, 200 hectares of marsh were filled in, followed by another 200 hectares later in

7900-654: The proposal. On September 18, 2006, an agreement was signed between the Provincial government, Ontario Power Generation and TransCanada Corp. to construct a gas-fired plant next to Hearn. The Portlands plant may eventually be co-generation, however it is being built as a combined cycle plant due to inability to negotiate contracts for cogeneration energy sales. The Portlands Energy Centre opened in June 2008 with simple cycle production and combined cycle operation scheduled for mid-2009. Extensive demolition of previously preserved areas of

8000-539: The rail service at the time, but according to a 2017 City of Toronto port, TPLC had the responsibility to keep the line open in case some future development in the area needs it. As of 2019, Google Maps showed that the line was severed at Commissioners Street to accommodate the construction of a building on the former right-of-way. In 1986, the City of Toronto created the Toronto Economic Development Corporation which since 2009 has operated under

8100-442: The river. Parks and wetlands will be completed in 2025 along this new water course, which will form the east and south side of the new island. The Keating Channel and Toronto Harbour are on the north and west side of the new island respectively. Mixed-use residential development is planned for Ookwemin Minising. The district is bounded on the north by Lake Shore Boulevard and on the east by Leslie Street . Cherry Street anchors

8200-508: The second cycle can take time to start up. Thus efficiency is initially much lower until the second cycle is running, which can take an hour or more. Heat engine efficiency can be based on the fuel Higher Heating Value (HHV), including latent heat of vaporisation that would be recuperated in condensing boilers , or the Lower Heating Value (LHV), excluding it. The HHV of methane is 55.50 MJ/kg (23,860 BTU/lb), compared to

8300-418: The site. Most of the boilers and a large amount of other equipment were removed and sent to the scrapyard. This movie studio project was abandoned in 2006. Although the station did not become a movie studio, the R. L. Hearn interior and grounds were used in a number of movie productions over the years. As of 2010, Studios of America still has long-term lease obligations for the Hearn site (32.5 years, according to

8400-423: The south, Regatta Road leads from Unwin Avenue to the sailing clubs on the outer harbour. The Port of Toronto is a 21-hectare (52-acre) container shipping facility and a cruise ship terminal along the eastern shore of the inner harbour operated by PortsToronto . PortsToronto also operates the large Outer Harbour Marina in between Cherry and Leslie Streets. The Portlands Energy Centre , a cogeneration power plant,

8500-545: The station including the turbine hall began once Studios of America abandoned their plans for a film studio. In 2006, proposal to build a $ 600 million transmission corridor from the Portlands plant to connect with higher voltage transmission lines north of Toronto was being discussed and opposed by resident and other groups. The transmission system that the R.L Hearn station supplied was a 115 kV network of buried and overhead lines and transformer stations in Toronto. The city has been supplied by stepdown transformer stations from

8600-410: The station was not even finished in the 1950s when Hydro officials and the government began to talk about phasing out the plant with nuclear power and closing it. The early years were marked by difficult labour relations and several near strikes. Several unions were involved in conflicts with management and each other during the life of the station. The R. L. Hearn station was one of the founding locals of

8700-534: The studio of artist Max Dean, as well as the gallery and warehouse of the artist collective VSVSVS. The Rebel nightclub is located on Polson Street. Cirque du Soleil presented a touring version of several shows under the Grand Chapiteau on vacant lands of the area between 2007 and 2017. A tent holding up to 2,500 people was pitched on vacant land at the south-east corner of Cherry and Commissioners Streets. Combined cycle A combined cycle power plant

8800-406: The system of say 34% for a simple cycle, to as much as 64% net for the turbine alone in specified conditions for a combined cycle. Historically successful combined cycles have used mercury vapour turbines , magnetohydrodynamic generators and molten carbonate fuel cells , with steam plants for the low temperature "bottoming" cycle. Very low temperature bottoming cycles have been too costly due to

8900-428: The temperature of the exiting gases is also high. In order to remove the maximum amount of heat from the gasses exiting the high temperature cycle, a dual pressure boiler is often employed. It has two water / steam drums. The low-pressure drum is connected to the low-pressure economizer or evaporator. The low-pressure steam is generated in the low temperature zone of the turbine exhaust gasses. The low-pressure steam

9000-413: The turbine blades. The turbine exhaust is already hot, so a regenerative air preheater is not required as in a conventional steam plant. However, a fresh air fan blowing directly into the duct permits a duct-burning steam plant to operate even when the gas turbine cannot. Without supplementary firing, the thermal efficiency of a combined cycle power plant is higher. But more flexible plant operations make

9100-413: The very large sizes of equipment needed to handle the large mass flows and small temperature differences. However, in cold climates it is common to sell hot power plant water for hot water and space heating. Vacuum-insulated piping can let this utility reach as far as 90 km. The approach is called " combined heat and power " (CHP). In stationary and marine power plants, a widely used combined cycle has

9200-577: The west side, providing access south from Lake Shore Boulevard to Cherry Beach . Commissioners Street and Unwin Avenue are two streets that span east–west between Cherry and Leslie Streets. Named after the members of the Toronto Harbour Commission, Commissioners Street is the spine across the area north of the ship channel. East of Leslie Street the road becomes North Service Road. Unwin Avenue (named for Charles Unwin , provincial and Toronto city surveyor, who surveyed Toronto Islands after 1858)

9300-407: The workers took early retirement and others were transferred to other sites. Some of the generators were operated as synchronous condensers to improve power quality in Toronto and the electrical control room and switchyard continued to operate until 1995, with a staff of about 10. In October 1985, Premier David Peterson 's Liberal government proposed the re-opening the station using natural gas. It

9400-487: Was 9 metres (30 ft) wide and trains on the line travelled at slow speed. By 2017, the Keating Yard had been reduced to a passing loop used to run the locomotive around its train. A train would operate every one to three weeks to bring five or six carloads of chemicals to the Ashbridges Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant on the east side of Leslie Street. The Port of Toronto facility was not using

9500-425: Was almost 300 metres long and was an impressive sight, viewed from the visitor gallery on the west side of the plant where the offices were located. Units 1–4 (100 MW) had one turbine-generator each. The 200 MW units (5–8) had two turbine-generators per unit—an arrangement called tandem cross-compound—so there were a total of 12 turbine-generator sets in the turbine hall. At the peak of the R. L. Hearn's operation in

9600-402: Was built in response to pressure to reduce smog in Toronto by the emerging environmental movement in the late 1960s. It stands 215 metres tall and was one of the tallest in the world, costing $ 9 million when it was completed in 1971. Air pollution in Toronto from the station was greatly reduced and the area around the plant became known as a good fishing and recreation spot. By the end of 1971,

9700-449: Was built on the 11 acres (4.5 ha) site of a former Esso oil tank farm. The first phase opened in 2008. The area along the south shore of the Port Lands has become mostly recreational. The Leslie Street Spit extends south from the Port lands and forms an outer harbour, sheltering a bird sanctuary and two boating marinas in the outer harbour. The south-western corner of the Port Lands

9800-521: Was designated as protected for future electricity development by the Mike Harris - and Ernie Eves -led Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. This was also done with all other existing publicly owned electrical generating stations during the deregulation of the Ontario electrical power system. The plant had all of the asbestos insulation removed and site remediation work was done in the 1990s. Former premier Mike Harris later mentioned his plans to build

9900-617: Was officially opened on October 26, 1951, by Leslie Frost , Premier of Ontario, with the first two units in service. Four units were in operation by 1953. The plant originally burned coal which was transported on ships through the Saint Lawrence Seaway . The station was designed by Stone & Webster . The turbine generators were built by Parsons in England and the boilers were made in Canada by Babcock & Wilcox (Cambridge, Ontario) and Combustion Engineering (Montreal, Quebec). Construction on

10000-504: Was only the first of numerous proposals to restart the plant, involving cogeneration , tri-generation, garbage incineration and eventually gas turbine combined cycle plants as new technologies were developed. In June 1987, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party (PC) energy critic Philip Andrewes pushed the governing Liberal government to have the Hearn re-opened as a "non-polluting" natural gas power plant. In October 1988, PC member of provincial parliament Donald Cousens called for

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