Old Dominion Electric Cooperative this week applied to the Maryland Public Service Commission for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to construct a natural gas-powered electric generation facility in Cecil County. The Wildcat Point Generation Facility, was first announced in April.
The filing comes the same week the Cecil County Council unanimously adopted a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, for Wildcat Point that would provide the county with $124.2 million through 2051. The plant site is about 25 miles west of Newark.
Cecil County officials are pleased with the agreement, since the site will not require added infrastructure or other costs to the county.
The Times-Dispatch in Richmond, Va reported the cost of the plant to be $675 million. That would make it one of the largest construction projects in the region in recent years. The newspaper also reported Wildcat would further delay a $4 billion coal-fired power plant it had planned in Virginia. The plant, which faced opposition from environmentalists, was first shelved during the economic downturn in 2009.
“Our region needs new sources of cost-effective, reliable and environmentally balanced electricity,” said Lisa Johnson, ODEC’s senior vice president and chief operating officer. “This filing makes a compelling case for Wildcat Point, from ODEC’s proven track record building and owning a generation facility in Maryland to the rising demand for electricity in our region. We are grateful for the broad support we have received from the Cecil County government and look forward to working with the PSC during their review of our application.”
Wildcat Point would be built five miles west of Rising Sun adjacent to the Rock Springs Generation Facility, which ODEC constructed and which put into operation in 2003. Wildcat would generate approximately 1,000 megawatts of power, enough to serve 390,000 homes annually. Wildcat would operate as a base load plant, unlike Rock Springs, which is only used during periods of peak demand.
Old Dominion experienced more than 26 percent growth in electricity sales over the last 10 years and expects additional growth over the next decade. The cooperative operates in fast-growing areas that include portions of Sussex and Kent counties in Delaware that are served by Delaware Electric Cooperative.
The plant would create a peak force of approximately 600 temporary construction jobs and roughly 30 permanent jobs.
In making a case for the plant, Old Dominion noted that the Maryand’s power plants are aging, with the state imporitng 42 percent of its power, making it the fifth-largest energy importer in the nation.
Electric power in the region is shifting to natural gas as coal-fired plants are retired. Work is getting under way on a Calpine gas-fired plant in Dover, Del that is about a quarter the size of the Wildcat Point generating site. In the preliminary stages, is a proposed power plant that would also power a data center on the University of Delaware STAR campus in Newark.
Prices of natural gas have declined as more production comes online from Marcellus Shale deposits in Pennsylvania.
Old Dominion is based in Glen Allen, Va.
