Governor Minner, NRG Energy Announce Plans to "Repower" Indian River Plant
Governor Minner, NRG Energy Announce Plans to "Repower" Indian River Plant
Dover - Governor Ruth Ann Minner and NRG Energy officials announced today a $1.5 billion "repowering" of the coal-fired Indian River Generating Station which will dramatically reduce Delaware's air pollution, create hundreds of jobs and provide 630 megawatts of new power.
Curtis Morgan, president of NRG's Northeast Region, said the company would move forward with plans to build a 630-megawatt Integrated Coal Gasification Combined Cycle, or "clean coal" plant on its Millsboro site. Clean coal technology removes up to 90 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions, up to 80 percent of oxides of nitrogen emissions, and up to 75 percent of mercury emissions, according to NRG. The new plant also will have the ability to capture emissions of carbon dioxide, a "greenhouse gas" that contributes to global warming of the earth's atmosphere.
"NRG's idea was very straightforward, but untried in our state," Governor Minner said. "This proposal will significantly improve our environment by turning a polluting facility into a model of state-of-the-art clean technology."
The plant will cost between $1.4 billion and $1.6 billion to build and is expected to be in operation by 2011-2012. The company also plans to install $330 million worth of major emissions-control equipment on its Millsboro operation's existing coal-fired units.
Governor Minner pointed out that NRG's proposal was encouraged by House Bill 6, a comprehensive response to the lifting of Delmarva Power's price caps on electricity rates. The bill passed in April and included language that made a repowering project more attractive to power suppliers, such as NRG, in an effort to stabilize prices and supply in Delaware. NRG must successfully compete in a process that begins this November but is moving forward with permitting efforts.
The company estimates the project will contribute 400 to 1,000 jobs during the construction period and add 85 to 100 permanent jobs at the facility, which now employs 170 people.
Gasified coal technology converts coal to a synthetic gas, removes the pollutants before combustion, and then combusts the cleaned synthetic gas in a process similar to natural gas combustion, generating electricity. Experts have estimated the domestic supply of coal at 250 years.
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