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Executives from a Houston-based power generation company came before Dover City Council’s Utility Committee Monday and pitched plans to build a natural gas power plant at the city-owned Garrison Oak Technology Park on White Oak Road.
Calpine Corporation, which owns about 100 power plants across the country, recently took over a project set in motion two years ago by Macquarie Energy, the American arm of an Australian investment bank.
Plans call for a 309-megawatt combined-cycle natural gas generating facility, which means about one-third of the plant’s output would be produced by burning natural gas in a turbine similar to a jet engine, while the other 33-percent of its power would be generated using steam heated by the gas turbine’s exhaust.
As a backup, the plant could also burn low-sulfur fuel oil.
At full capacity, the plant would generate enough electricity to power approximately 92,000 homes.
Calpine Director of Strategic Origination Champe Fisher told the Utility Committee that the Garrison facility will be a state-of-the-art version of the natural gas power plants his company owns all over the country, and be relatively inexpensive to build and run compared to other kinds of plants.
Natural gas, he said, is projected to be cheaper than coal in coming decades, partly because of new technologies that have allowed drilling companies to extract gas from small pockets in shale deposits across the eastern U.S. This process, called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” for short, is controversial for the impact it can have on drinking water and the environment, but is considered by many to be the future of the nation’s energy reserves.
“The benefit of natural gas is we have it locally. Shale gas is the latest energy play in the U.S.,” Fisher said. “You have a cheap fuel and you have the cheapest technology to employ.”
Fisher said Calpine wants to have the Garrison plant up and running by summer of 2015 at a cost of roughly $300 million.
The plant would occupy about 40 of the Garrison tract’s 400 acres and be situated adjacent to the brand new Dover SunPark 10-megawatt solar power plant.
Like the SunPark, Calpine would likely lease its land from the city and perhaps enter into an agreement to sell a portion of its power directly to Dover’s electric utility.
During construction, Fisher estimated the project could employ 300 to 400 workers, but only 10 to 15 people would be required to run the completed facility.
Executives from a Houston-based power generation company came before Dover City Council’s Utility Committee Monday and pitched plans to build a natural gas power plant at the city-owned Garrison Oak Technology Park on White Oak Road.
Calpine Corporation, which owns about 100 power plants across the country, recently took over a project set in motion two years ago by Macquarie Energy, the American arm of an Australian investment bank.
Plans call for a 309-megawatt combined-cycle natural gas generating facility, which means about one-third of the plant’s output would be produced by burning natural gas in a turbine similar to a jet engine, while the other 33-percent of its power would be generated using steam heated by the gas turbine’s exhaust.
As a backup, the plant could also burn low-sulfur fuel oil.
At full capacity, the plant would generate enough electricity to power approximately 92,000 homes.
Calpine Director of Strategic Origination Champe Fisher told the Utility Committee that the Garrison facility will be a state-of-the-art version of the natural gas power plants his company owns all over the country, and be relatively inexpensive to build and run compared to other kinds of plants.
Natural gas, he said, is projected to be cheaper than coal in coming decades, partly because of new technologies that have allowed drilling companies to extract gas from small pockets in shale deposits across the eastern U.S. This process, called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” for short, is controversial for the impact it can have on drinking water and the environment, but is considered by many to be the future of the nation’s energy reserves.
“The benefit of natural gas is we have it locally. Shale gas is the latest energy play in the U.S.,” Fisher said. “You have a cheap fuel and you have the cheapest technology to employ.”
Fisher said Calpine wants to have the Garrison plant up and running by summer of 2015 at a cost of roughly $300 million.
The plant would occupy about 40 of the Garrison tract’s 400 acres and be situated adjacent to the brand new Dover SunPark 10-megawatt solar power plant.
Like the SunPark, Calpine would likely lease its land from the city and perhaps enter into an agreement to sell a portion of its power directly to Dover’s electric utility.
During construction, Fisher estimated the project could employ 300 to 400 workers, but only 10 to 15 people would be required to run the completed facility.
Members of the Utility Committee asked a few pointed questions during Fisher’s presentation, but most of their interest centered around the issue of infrastructure at the Garrison tract.
Councilwoman Beverly Williams asked Fisher how much Calpine thinks it will need to build the roads and water/sewer lines that will serve the site, in addition to the natural gas line needed to supply the plant and the power lines needed to bring the electricity to the grid.
Fisher was reticent to give a number and said his company is currently studying the infrastructure costs.
However, Fisher also said Calpine is looking at a $40 million pot of money set aside in this year’s state budget for infrastructure improvements at commercial and industrial sites.
The New Jobs Infrastructure Fund is part of Gov. Jack Markell’s plan to spend the state’s revenue surplus on economic development measures.
“We are monitoring all that,” Fisher said. “If we’re eligible I think we would make our presence known.”
Dover Sen. Brian Bushweller, who attended the committee meeting, said the Calpine project would likely benefit from an agreement Kent County legislators struck with the Markell administration during this year’s budget process, whereby the governor’s office committed to spending at least $3 million from the infrastructure fund on establishing new tenants at the Garrison tract.
“I’m hopeful this project progresses,” Bushweller said. “It fits very nicely in the governor’s concept for that $40 million fund.”
