By William Opalka

A power plant developer says it has met most requirements to repower a 106-MW coal-fired generator in the Finger Lakes region that has been closed for more than four years.

Greenidge Generation says it hopes to repower the facility with natural gas as a merchant plant by the middle of next year. To do so, it has asked state regulators for expedited approval of a 4.6-mile connection to the Empire Connector interstate gas pipeline. The petitions are before the New York Public Service Commission (15-E-0516, 15-G-0571, 15-T-0586).

An environmental group has challenged the company’s request for a certificate of public convenience and necessity, saying the plant is not needed and runs counter to the state’s clean energy goals.

“The public need for the pipeline is entirely dependent upon the public need for the generating station. Because [the developer] has failed to demonstrate a public need for reopening the generating station, there is no basis for determining that there is a public need for a new gas pipeline to the generating station,” the Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes wrote.

The group also said the reopening of fossil fuel-fired power plants runs counter to the state’s Energy Plan released earlier this year that seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% by 2050. “These targets cannot be achieved if New York continues to bring fossil-fueled generating infrastructure online,” it said.

The group asked the commission to deny the request for expedited approval and instead conduct evidentiary hearings.

Greenidge disputes the environmentalists’ characterization of the public need. “The commission has consistently recognized that [merchant] facilities are in the public interest … where they have been shown to provide benefits in the form of increased employment, improved reliability and lower prices for electric energy and capacity throughout New York state,” it wrote.

It also says the Energy Plan does not restrict natural gas generation. “Moreover, CPFL’s allegations with respect to the state Energy Plan involve only legal and policy matters and fail to raise any contested issues of material fact for which a hearing would be required,” the filing said.

Built in 1953, the plant is located on Seneca Lake in Yates County. It was purchased in 1998 by AES and operated by it and its subsidiaries until March 2011, when it was mothballed. The plant has not operated since.

During the AES bankruptcy proceeding in 2012, the company said it intended to permanently retire the plant. The plant was sold to GMMM Holdings, which in turn sold the facility to Greenidge in February 2014, according to the Greenidge filing.

Greenidge said most permits are current, but it needs an air permit and water withdrawal permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.