Entry no.23 - Dresden GS @night
*Update* - This entry only showcases the maxis night shots of the power plant. For the cooler dark night shots please check out entry 34. 
The rest of the city may sleep at night but the power plant is very active. Normally only two units are required at night, but on this humid night all units are active while another nearby power plant is down for maintenance.
The stacks for unit 3&4 weren't built with a maintenance/rest platform so aside from a single high-intensity xenon discharge flasher on the north side they do not meet the current aircraft warning safety regulations. Rather then spend the money to built a platform on a structure that wasn't designed for one, the PRPA simply illuminated the south side of the stacks with spot lights from the roof of the boiler building. 
The port facilities are also usually abuzz at night.
The residents of Dresden have a love-hate relationship with the big plant which dominates the city's skyline. Those who work there and their families love it because it provides over 750 well-paying full time jobs and a trickle down effect in the local economy. There are also those who appreciate the vital role it plays in the regions economy and others who simply admire the structure because of how massive it is - like me! .
But most local resident who don't directly benefit from the plant, aside from getting their electricity from it, resent the plant because of scenes like these;
Even after the recent modernization project which significantly reduced overall sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates releases, the plant is the second largest source of air pollution in the region after the ICON smelter facility. Previously it had been the #1 source by a large margin and independent studies have shown that local levels of air pollution(within Dresden) have been reduced by over 80% since the construction of the superstack and the conversion of units 3&4 to peak only usage. But coal power can never be completely clean and people will understandably never be happy with air pollution. However the often forget that plant came first - Dresden's pop. was 28,000 in 1954 when the first phase of the plant was completed(1000 of whom worked there), today its over 92,000. They were the ones who chose to move into the city despite the power plants presence and after just having spent 1.6 billion dollars refurbishing the plant, she's not going anywhere.
And with the tour of the Dresden Generating Station is concluded.
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