WARWICK – A decision that’s been several years in the making is finally scheduled to happen in June.
The state Energy Facility Siting Board is scheduled to discuss and issue a final decision to grant or deny a license for Invenergy Thermal Development LLC’s proposed Clear River Energy Center power plant in Burrillville on June 20.
The three-member board also has scheduled two additional open meeting dates – June 21 and June 25 – in case it doesn’t reach a decision during the first meeting.
The meetings will be held at state Public Utilities Commission offices at 89 Jefferson Blvd. in Warwick. The purpose is to allow the board to deliberate on the proposal publicly, without taking input from the parties involved or the public like a hearing.
“The board anticipates its deliberation on this matter to continue multiple days and is noticing each of those days separately,” the board said in announcing the three meeting dates Wednesday.
The Energy Facility Siting Board is chaired by Margaret Curran, also chairwoman of the Public Utilities Commission. The other board members are R.I. Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit and Meredith Brady, the state Department of Administration’s associate director of planning.
The proposal has pitted Chicago-based Invenergy, a multinational power plant developer and operator, against a coalition of environmental and community groups.
The company has been seeking state approval for the proposed $1 billion natural gas-burning to plant to sell the electricity generated by it into New England’s power grid system. The coalition, meanwhile, has opposed the plant on the grounds that the electricity it would produce is not needed and that it would needlessly add to environmental disruption.
Earlier this month, the DEM announced that it found the Invenergy plant would comply with federal and state air pollution controls.
The company heralded the DEM’s decision as a victory. However, opponents were happy last fall when federal regulators accepted an earlier decision by ISO New England, the region’s power grid operator, to cancel its energy supply agreement, called a capacity supply obligation, with Invenergy related to the Burrillville plant for the 2021-2022 period, though Invenergy can bid on future agreements.
Invenergy CEO Michael Polsky announced plans for the 1,080-megawatt plant in August 2015 during a ceremony at Rhode Island’s State House attended by Gov. Gina M. Raimondo.
Scott Blake is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Blake@PBN.com
