Coal Handling At Paradise

The first of two initial 650-mw units of the Paradise Steam Station, located on the banks of the Green River in the south-central portion of the western Kentucky coal basin, is scheduled for operation in late fall of 1962. This plant will be the eighth large-capacity, modern station built by TVA in a series starting with Johnsonville, operated first in 1951. During the subsequent ten years, unit sizes have increased from a capability of 125 mw to 650 mw at Paradise. This new unit will take its place in a power system that serves an area of about 80,000 sq miles with a present installed capacity of over 12,000 mw. Upon completion of the Paradise units and other additional hydro and steam units presently under construction, the system capacity will have reached over 15,000 mw. Projected load estimates indicate that this system will provide a margin of slightly under 10% of dependable capacity above peak demand at that time. One Paradise 650-mw unit at that time will represent approximately 4yc of the total system installed capacity.