Construction crews are finishing work on a power plant in Tiverton this month, and proposals to build similar plants in Johnston and North Smithfield are progressing through the obstacle course of required governmental studies and hearings. The three plants together would add more than a 1,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity to the state. That’s roughly equivalent to half of the generating capacity of the massive Hoover Dam in Nevada, which powers parts of California, Arizona and Nevada.
Energy Management Inc. of North Dartmouth, Mass., is developing the Tiverton plant in cooperation with a California company. EMI Treasurer Mitchell Jacobs said he expects the natural gas-fired power plant to be ready for testing next month.
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And the plant’s staff of about 20 should begin pumping electricity into the New England power grid sometime this summer, more than a year and a half after general contractor Stone & Webster Inc. of Boston began construction, Jacobs said.
The plant’s electric generating capacity of 265 megawatts is equivalent to more than 1 million horsepower, or the combined amount of power produced by about 7,140 standard Ford Taurus sedans.
EMI completed construction of a $110 million, 170-megawatt electric generating plant in Dighton, Mass., last May.
In January, the company sold its power plants in Pawtucket and Dartmouth, Mass., to El Paso Merchant Energy Co., a subsidiary of a major natural gas company in Texas.
Rhode Island’s first-in-the-nation electric restructuring law required utilities to sell most of their power plants and opened the door for competitors such as EMI to begin generating electricity here. However, utilities still own the wires and poles that deliver electricity to homes and businesses around the state.
Beyond the new Tiverton plant, plans to build large power plants in Johnston and North Smithfield have moved forward despite spirited opposition from nearby residents.
The Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board has the authority to approve major power plant developments in the state over the objection of local governments and residents. The board last year issued a license to Reliant Energy Inc. of Houston to build a 500-megawatt, natural gas-fired generating facility off Shun Pike and Simmons Lake Drive in Johnston.
The project is awaiting an air quality permit from the Department of Environmental Management before construction can begin, said George Corrente, who heads Johnston’s building and planning department. Reliant Energy spokesman Richard Wheatley said the plant could be completed by the summer of 2002.
A Johnston Town Council meeting turned rowdy earlier this month when councilmen moved to grant a zoning change from residential to industrial for land at the site of the planned the Reliant generating facility. The zoning change was approved over the strenuous objections of residents opposed to the project.
Meanwhile, the tug-of-war between concerned residents and power plant developers and state officials is just getting started in North Smithfield, where Indeck Energy Inc. of Buffalo Grove, Ill., has proposed building a 350-megawatt, natural gas-fired generating facility on Old Oxford Road near the Slatersville Reservoir.
The Siting Board established a formal schedule this month for reviewing the company’s plans after holding initial hearings on the matter in December and February. The board has tapped a host of state agencies and local governments to provide their opinions on the project’s merits by September.
Among those scheduled to weigh in on the plan are DEM, the State Planning Council, the Public Utilities Commission, the Department of Transportation and the towns of North Smithfield and Burrillville.
A final licensing decision could be issued by the board late this year or early next year. The board is composed of Jan Reitsma, DEM director, and Robert Griffith, chief of strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation in the state budget office. Elia Germani will join the board if he is confirmed as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission by the state Senate.
Many North Smithfield residents are opposing the project on mostly environmental and quality-of-life grounds. Indeck President and Chief Operation Officer Thomas Campone didn’t return telephone calls by press time.
