A massive retired coal-fired generating station on the Delaware River is up for sale and is generating enthusiasm among architecture scholars and developers. Delaware Station, built in 1920, was designed by Philadelphia architect John T. Windrim, who also designed the famous Franklin Institute. The 223,000-square-foot building comes with 10 acres of land and another 6 acres underwater.
The site is near the booming Northern Liberties and Fishtown neighborhoods. Owner Exelon Generation has hired real estate brokerage Binswanger to supervise the sale. Sealed bids are due by Nov. 3.
The plant was the northernmost of three waterfront Philadelphia Electric Co. power stations, each a variation on a classical temple. All three are retired. One has been repurposed as an office.
More: The Philadelphia Inquirer
PPL’s Plan for 725-Mile Tx Line Draws Critics
PPL’s plan to build a 725-mile transmission line across four states to take advantage of power generated from cheap Marcellus Shale gas is attracting opposition.
Environmentalists and property owners say PPL’s plan to build a $4 billion to $6 billion, 500-kV line across Pennsylvania to bring power to New Jersey, New York and Maryland will induce more drilling, fracking and power-plant construction in the shale region.
“There are a whole wealth of harms that come from drilling for shale gas,” said Maya K. van Rossum, head of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. “And the more we invest in fossil fuels, the less money we have to invest in renewable sources.”
PJM is reviewing the plan.
More: NorthJersey.com
NRG Breaks Ground on Texas Carbon-Capture Plant
Construction on what is billed as the world’s largest post-combustion carbon-capture plant is underway near Houston. While other carbon-capture projects are still in the design phase, or hung up with permitting or financing issues, NRG Energy is going ahead with the Petra Nova Carbon Capture Project. It is being built at the existing W.A. Parish power plant in Fort Bend County.
The plant is designed to capture 90% of the carbon dioxide from flue gas, compress it and transport it by pipeline 80 miles to an oil field, where it will be pumped underground to stimulate oil production. The compressed carbon dioxide is expected to increase the oil field’s yield from 500 barrels a day to 15,000 barrels.
The $1 billion project is being funded by a grant of up to $167 million from the Department of Energy’s Clean Coal Power Initiative, along with $250 million in loans from Japanese banks and $600 million in equity.
More: Houston Business Journal
Cove Point Detractors Warn Investors Away
An environmental group opposed to Dominion Resources new liquefied natural gas export project in Maryland is taking a new tack: trying to convince potential investors that it’s a bad risk.
The Chesapeake Climate Action Network hired a financial research firm to analyze the project, which is planned for an existing facility on the Chesapeake Bay’s western shore. The firm’s report warns that the project’s success is dependent upon further state and federal approvals. Dominion Midstream Partners is awaiting approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $400 million to finance the project.
“Investors buying the common units of Dominion Midstream Partners should realize that this company’s cash-flow is purely dependent on the Cove Point Liquefaction Project, for which further delays are expected,” said Jan Willem van Gelder, director of Profundo, the research firm. “In combination with the limited voting power of the unit holders and the dominant position of parent company Dominion Resources, investors are likely to face very uncertain returns.” The report goes on to warn of expected legal challenges facing Cove Point, based on environmental and conflict of interest charges.
More: Fierce Energy
PSEG Gets into Pipeline Business
Public Service Enterprise Group is partnering with four other companies to build and operate a 105-mile, $1 billion natural gas pipeline.
The New Jersey company will partner with affiliates of UGI, South Jersey Gas, New Jersey Natural Gas and Elizabethtown Gas. PSEG will have a 12% stake in the project, with the other parties each holding 22%. UGI Energy Services would build and operate the project. PSEG said the project would benefit its New Jersey customers, bringing low-cost Marcellus Shale gas to them.
Construction is planned for 2017. The pipeline would run from Luzerne County, Pa., to Trenton, N.J.
More: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Duke Buys 278 MW of Solar for $500M
Duke Energy announced last week it is buying 278 MW of solar energy from eight utility-scale projects in North Carolina to help meet state renewable-energy mandates. Duke is purchasing three solar farms rated at 128 MW and power-purchase agreements with five projects rated at 150 MW.
“Solar prices are coming down. We can make it work at an attractive price,” said Rob Caldwell, vice president at Duke Distributed Energy Resources. He said the current purchase-power agreements the company is entering into are “about a third” of the $0.11/kWh Duke now pays for rooftop solar.
Duke must derive 12.5% of its power from alternative energy sources by 2021. The acquisitions will make Duke compliant with interim targets in 2015 and 2018, Caldwell said.
More: Greentech Media
Judge Blocks FirstEnergy Protests at Execs’ Homes
An Ohio judge barred FirstEnergy workers from picketing the homes of three company executives after neighbors of FirstEnergy CEO Tony Alexander complained about protesters using bullhorns and air horns in their suburban neighborhood.
Common Pleas Judge Jane M. Davis issued the restraining order against the Utility Workers of America, which is in contract negotiations with FirstEnergy. A tentative pact was reached in July, but workers at 14 units turned it down.
FirstEnergy requested that the protests be limited to no more than five people and that the protesters be prohibited from screaming, yelling or making noise “in a manner intended to disturb.” But the judge prohibited any protesters at all.
FirstEnergy spokesman Todd Schneider said the company’s actions were in response to the large, “inappropriate” demonstration in a residential area.
“Protesting in front of our corporate headquarters is one thing,” he said. “Protesting in a residential neighborhood is a different thing.”
More: Akron Beacon Journal
FE, AEP Plants Makes Top 10 Dirtiest List
FirstEnergy’s Bruce Mansfield Plant in Shippingport, Pa., and American Electric Power’s General James M. Gavin plant in Cheshire, Ohio, are among the nation’s 10 dirtiest power plants, according to a report by Environment America Research & Policy Center.
The “America’s Dirtiest Power Plants” report ranked the Mansfield plant third and the Gavin plant sixth.
“In 2012, U.S. power plants produced more carbon pollution than the entire economies of Russia, India, Japan or any other nation besides China,” the report said. “In fact, the 50 dirtiest U.S. power plants alone — representing less than 1% of U.S. power plants — produced as much pollution in 2012 as the nation of South Korea (the world’s seventh leading emitter of greenhouse gases).”
Georgia Power’s Scherer plant in Juliette, Ga., was No. 1. Indiana Michigan Power’s Rockport Plant in Rockport, Ind., came in No. 4. The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Paradise plant in Drakesboro, Ky., was No. 10.