Power plant could be boon for energy, more

A recently-announced $1.5 billion project at the Indian River Power Plant holds an incredible amount of promise, both for Sussex County and the rest of our state.

NRG Energy recently announced plans to invest $1.5 billion to expand and renovate their facility near Millsboro. Most of those funds would be used to build a new 630 megawatt “Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle” (IGCC) facility.

IGCC is a cutting-edge technology that allows electricity to be generated cleanly and efficiently. Only a handful of such plants are now operating, but they are clearly the wave of the future and for good reason.

Instead of directly burning pulverized or lump coal, like a conventional generating plant does, an IGCC facility first uses a process that converts the coal to a synthetic gas. This gas is then burned, ultimately generating electricity.

IGCC holds a few unique charms, not the least of which is that it is relatively clean. Compared to conventional coal-fired facilities, IGCC plants emit up to 90 percent less sulfur dioxide, up to 80 percent less nitrogen oxides and up to 75 percent less mercury.

IGCC plants also have an advantage in that they can use cheaper, high-sulfur coal. This coal is less expensive because when burned in conventional plants it produces more pollution. IGCC facilities don’t face this difficulty and can burn this less desirable fuel cleanly.

The new IGCC will also have the ability to capture carbon dioxide. Regardless of where you stand in the debate over global warming, concerns about it are driving a new approach called “carbon dioxide sequestration.” The idea is to capture and impound this “greenhouse gas,” preventing it from entering the atmosphere.

Although sequestration technology is still being developed, the Indian River IGCC facility will be poised to employ it when it is.

In addition to carbon dioxide, the new facility will also be able to remove and process compounds that had previously resulted in pollution and convert them to salable products.

Considering that coal is one of the oldest fuels utilized by man, it may seem ironic that it is one of our best hopes for a clean, dependable energy source of tomorrow. What NRG Energy and other power generating companies realize is that the United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal.

More than half the electricity used in the U.S. is the result of coal-fired boilers and we have ample resources to generate more. At the current rate of consumption, and with present-day mining technology, our nation has sufficient domestic coal reserves to last more than 250 years.

While we have ample supplies of coal, using it to produce electricity has often been problematic. While coal plants provide a fairly inexpensive source of electricity, they’ve also had significant environmental impacts, ranging from acid rain to mercury contamination of fish.

In fact, the current Indian River Power Plant — originally built in 1957 — has been repeated cited as an especially bad polluter.

The NRG Energy project should change that reality dramatically. Not only does the project include construction of the new “clean coal” IGCC facility, Phase II of the plan calls for investing more than $300 million in anti-pollution equipment that’ll be retrofitted to the existing facility.

Once the project is completed in 2012, the Indian River Plant will produce 1,367 megawatts of electricity — an 85-percent increase over today’s capacity — while emitting less overall pollution.

Obviously, that is good news for the environment, but it is also good news for our regional economy.

With the new IGCC facility joining the existing plant, the complex will generate enough power to serve approximately 1.3 million homes. In an area that — for better or worse — is likely to continue growing, it’ll ensure that we have a local source of electricity able to meet our needs well into the foreseeable future.

The project is expected to employ up to 1,000 construction workers. After completion, the new IGCC facility will provide at least 85 full-time, high-paying jobs.

All of this is contingent on NRG Energy’s ability to find a market for its electricity. There is always a need for power, but NRG Energy needs long-term commitments from regional utilities to purchase the power that’ll be produced at the expanded complex.

Without securing long-term contracts, the company will be unable to convince investors to loan them the money needed for the project.

We believe the free market can be a powerful, positive force in meeting consumers’ needs in the least expensive way. However, we strongly urge Delmarva Power, Delaware Electric Co-op, our state’s municipal utilities and other regional electric companies to seriously consider the relative benefits of making a commitment to support this clean, domestically-produce energy resource.