Government officials, on Friday, joined with NRG East Region President Lee Davis to celebrate a coal-free NRG Energy Center in Dover. The plant, combined with the closing of a coal-fired unit in Sussex County, will leave the state with one coal generating unit.
NRG worked for a year to convert the coal-fueled plant to a combined-cycle natural gas facility. To assist with the costs of re-powering the facility, NRG received a grant from the Delaware Energy Efficiency Investment Fund, which helps local businesses make strategic capital equipment investments that reduce operating costs and support job creation, while reducing energy consumption and improving environmental performance.
“The re-powering of NRG Energy Center Dover represents another important milestone in Delaware’s efforts to have the cleanest, cheapest and most reliable energy in the nation,” said Gov. Jack Markell. “NRG’s investment in cleaner natural gas technology provides significant air quality benefits for our citizens and improves the economic competitiveness of Kent County. NRG is to be recognized for reducing air emissions and contributing to Delaware’s goal of a clean energy economy.”
NRG is also involved in a vehicle-to-grid test at the University of Delaware that uses a small fleet of BMW minis to store electricity and release power when needed. The approach is being tested in cooperation with PJM, the operator of the regional grid. The vehicle-to-grid approach is seen as a way to store and distribute power as the grid sees more energy produced by wind and solar power.
NRG Energy Center Dover, a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Thermal LLC, is a combined heat and power facility. Prior to the conversion, the plant featured one co-generation, coal-fueled 16 megawatt steam turbine and two, simple-cycle 44 megawatt natural-gas combustion turbines. Its electricity was and is transmitted to the PJM market, part of the Eastern interconnection grid operating an electric transmission system serving Delaware and 12 other states as well as the District of Columbia. The steam was sold to local manufactures Kraft Foods and Proctor and Gamble.
NRG took one the existing gas turbines, added a heat recovery steam generator and reused the existing 16 megawatt steam turbine to create a combined cycle power plant. The existing coal equipment was then permanently retired. The improvements created 75 construction jobs over a one-year period.
Commercial operations began in June with a combined-cycle package of 62 megawatts and a combustion turbine peak unit of 44 megawatts. The plant will continue to serve the PJM market and co-generate steam for Kraft and Proctor and Gamble.
According to Lee Davis, president of NRG’s East Region, “We’re pleased to welcome Governor Markell, Senators Carper and Coons, Representative Carney and Secretary O’Mara here to inaugurate our repowered Dover Thermal plant. Along with significant environmental investments at our Indian River Generating Station, this project demonstrates NRG’s commitment to the State of Delaware and to operate our generation assets as cleanly and efficiently as possible.”
Several years ago NRG began an air quality improvement program at the Indian River Generating Station, which has resulted in emissions reductions at the plant.
First, NRG closed down two coal units, one in 2010 and another in 2011. The company invested $360 million in environmental controls on unit 4, in addition to previous investments of approximately $50 million in controls on both units 3 and 4.
Finally the company will shut down unit 3 at the end of 2013. Taken together, these steps will make Indian River Generating Station one of the cleanest coal plants in the country, according to a release from the state.
Earlier, Calpine shut down the coal-fired production at its Edgemoor generating plant near Wilmington a few years ago. The plant is now powered by natural gas.
DelawareOnline.com reported that the cost of the Dover conversion was $25 million.
