RG&E Power Station
Rochester, NY
Rochester Gas and Electric officially retired this power station and
its 80-megawatt power production capacity in 1999, but most of the
facility was retired in 1984. We assumed this since the latest dates
on equipment inspection tags were in 1984. Currently closed, the station
is suffering from much environmental damage and decay. Toxic coal
residue lines the hoppers and calcium carbonate forms stalagtites
on pipe joints. Virtually every surface shows its state of disrepair
by peeling or rusting. We entered by climbing up vertical steel girders
and using an open second-level door. It was good to see that vandalism
and squatting was nonexistant at this location (although some meter
windows were smashed). The control room and meter still had poer and
the lights were on when we arrived. Stacks of manuals and files litterd
the office and the area outside the control. A PC World magazine from
1988 highlighted "hard disk laptops" and 10-20 MHz 386 processors.
We've sure come a long way.
| Date: |
29 January, 2005 |
| Crew: |
Deltacbravo, SFX |
| Entry tactics: |
Fence/girder climbing |
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