Students visit Sherman Cooper Power Plant

Students participating in the Knox County Public Schools’ energy teams got a behind the scenes look at an electrical plant on December 4.

Cumberland Valley Electric organized a trip for each schools’ energy team members to visit the Sherman Cooper Power Plant located just outside of Somerset, Kentucky.   Rich Prewitt, an outreach coordinator for Cumberland Valley, accompanied students on the trip.

The plant tour showed students how the coal is delivered on trucks then transferred via conveyor belts into the plants.  Once the coal arrived inside, they seen the resulting fire inside the facility’s furnaces.   Students also learned how the plants location next to the river was essential in creating electric.  Water is added to the coal in the process.   Students seen water tubes that carry the water into the plant into barrels that heat up and are added to the coal.

A highlight of the tour was seeing the facility’s new $250 million scrubber that helps purify the coal before it is processed, ultimately making the process more environmentally friendly.  

While at the plant, students learned more about jobs at Sherman Cooper and various educational and career paths in the field.  Tour guides were the engineers and operators employed at the plant.

Additional photos are available in the KCPS Photo Gallery.