Cecil’s Wildcat Point gas-fired plant has strong support

While the controversy over a power plant for proposed Data Centers project in Newark sputters on, the much larger Old Dominion Electric Cooperative Wildcat Point power plant is getting a  warm reception in neighboring Cecil County.

No one spoke against the project in a public hearing last month, the Cecil Whig newspaper-website reported.

The natural gas-fired power plant  is nearly four times  larger than the full build-out of the Data Centers generation site that is part of a project that could carry a $1.1 billion price tag.  Unlike  the Newark  project, Wildcat Point  is in a rural area between Rising Sun and Port Deposit in western Cecil County. Old Dominion also moved aggressively on the public relations/education front, offering an informational website, with email sign-ups for a regular newsletter.

The Times Dispatch in Richmond, Va.  reported the total cost of the plant  at  upwards of $700 million.

The plant  will provide a major boost to the economy of Cecil County, Md., which has seen  a sluggish economic recovery.

While much of the skilled labor for the construction phase will come from outside the county, property taxes and other benefits will boost the economy and government coffers  for decades to come.

Demands on the county’s infrastructure will be few as major road and other improvements will not be needed. Electric generating plants operate with small staffs, with the Wildcat head count at 30.

Another factor working in the plant’s favor is its ownership  by a cooperative that splits profits with members. Anti-corporate sentiments have fueled  opposition to the Data Centers project in the college town of  Newark.

An agreement with Cecil County will generate $124.2 million in revenue  through 2051. Data Centers officials have noted that smaller, tax  revenue gains amounting to millions of dollars will go to New Castle County and the City of Newark with the project.

To the south of Newark, a 273 megawatt  gas-fired power plant is being constructed by Calpine in Dover. The plant has room to add capacity should demand arise. That plant has received only scattered opposition from neighbors.

The Wildcat site already houses a peak power natural gas-fired plant that operates during periods of heavy demand. Wildcat will operate  as a base load plant.

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative supplies member cooperatives, including Delaware Electric in Greenwood.

As environmental restrictions increase and supplies of natural gas dramatically rise  in neighboring Pennsylvania, Old Dominion dropped plans to build a coal-fired plant and opted for the Wildcat project.

While the power plant faces a state environmental approval process, orders have already been placed for  equipment. Construction is slated to begin in 2015 for the plant that would provide electricity to the equivalent of  390,000 homes.

The plant will operate with a combined cycle process that makes  steam  from exhaust gases during the generation process to power a turbine. The Baltimore Sun did not that the plant would take water from the reservoir behind Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River.

One of the objections to the Newark power plant has been plumes of steam that opponents claim will come from  the plant, although backers say the combined cycle process could  also be used, or steam could be used at the University of Delaware .

Developers of the project, Data Centers Inc., say  the plant is needed to ensure 100% percent reliability. Under zoning restrictions, the Newark  Data Centers  plant could sell a maximum of 30 percent of its total output on the open market.

Click here for a previous story on the power plant from Delaware Business Daily.