Republican lawmakers are looking to restart the old Indian River Power Plant converting it from coal to natural gas. Delmarva Public Media's Kevin Diaz has this look at the effort.
Kevin Diaz:
The Indian River Power Plant was decommissioned last year after nearly 70 years in operation. The final coal train left the plant in late December. But Republicans in Delaware say they're in talks with energy companies to restore operations at the power plant using natural gas. They say that bringing the plant back online would help strengthen the region's power grid and help lower energy costs.
Matt Revel:
We have basic economics that forces the energy prices to skyrocket...
Kevin Diaz:
That's Matt Revel, communications director for the Delaware State Senate Republican Caucus, speaking in a recent podcast.
Matt Revel:
We should probably tackle that shortage with reliable baseload energy. So getting the Indian River Power plant back up and running, say with natural gas...
Kevin Diaz:
Along with separate legislation to incentivize the construction of more natural gas power plants, state senator Brian Pettyjohn said he has been in talks with Chesapeake Utilities to explore recommissioning the old power plant, which first opened in 1957.
Brian Pettyjohn:
I am having conversations right now with Chesapeake. We're going to try to get together with some of the other players that have to come to the table and see what they need in order to get generation back there at that power plant, and ideally with natural gas.
Kevin Diaz:
In a statement to Delmar Republic Media, Chesapeake Utility, senior Vice President Michael Cassell said the company stands ready to "support solutions that deliver more energy of all types." In nearby Dagsboro, Mayor Jason Russell said that while many questions remain unanswered, the rising costs of electricity demands that officials explore all viable options for increasing production and stabilizing utility rates. But given its age and history, some analysts say the Indian River power plant conversion would face massive financial, technical, and environmental obstacles, not the least of which is contamination from an unlined coal ash pit from 60 years of operation.
We talked to Dustyn Thompson, director of the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club.
Dustyn Thompson:
We have a lot of concerns about the cost that it would take to convert a coal plant, particularly one as aged as this one, to run on gas. And even if you were successful in getting the money to do that, which would likely be at minimum in the hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on how many of the units. Of course, there's four units at that facility, but only one has operated in the last decade.
Kevin Diaz:
The plant's owner energy, NRG Energy in Houston, and its operator, PJM Interconnection, have spent years working to decommission the site, make upgrades and removed unused coal. But it's an open question whether it would be economically feasible to convert it to gas. Here's Thompson.
Dustyn Thompson:
The conventional wisdom to date is that it's actually better to just leave it alone because when you start tearing it up, you're going to not only aerosol those things, but have a huge risk of leaking much more of those chemicals at a higher concentration.
Kevin Diaz:
Thompson said Delaware is already heavily dependent on natural gas, which raises questions about the sort of energy diversification that is often heard in political circles.
Dustyn Thompson:
We hear the talking point a lot that we need to diversify our energy mix, that we need to get more energy online as quickly as we can, and yet at the same time, if not in the same breadth, we hear them push back against offshore wind and support for more natural gas.
Kevin Diaz:
That debate has only grown sharper as President Trump and many Republicans in Maryland and Delaware oppose a proposed offshore wind project off the Delmarva coast. Meanwhile, rate payers suffering a harsh winter, can only hope for relief in more abundant and economical energy sources.
