Power plant mix still years away

 

Jun 13 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Luther Turmelle New Haven Register, Conn.

The president and chief executive officer of ISO-New England said Tuesday it will be "many, many years" before the region achieves a mix between power plants fueled by oil or natural gas and renewable energy sources.

Gordon van Welie said that even though the price of oil and natural gas has been one of the main factors in driving up the cost of electricity in the region in the past several years, "low-cost, low-risk investment (for companies building new power plants) is building natural gas facilities."

"When you step outside that paradigm, you are looking at more cost," van Welie told a media briefing group at the headquarters of the regional grid operator. "We've got a big challenge ahead of us."

Natural gas-fired plants represent 45 percent of New England's current electric generation mix. Of the 87 projects currently being proposed, 46 are powered by either natural gas or a mix of that fuel and oil.

Wind-powered generation is the next most popular, with 20 projects being proposed.

The largest amount of new generation being proposed for the region, in terms of megawatts of power, is slated for Connecticut. Nearly 4,700 megawatts are proposed for the state between now and 2010, but van Welie stressed that not all of the power plants being proposed will be built. And a lack of tall mountains in the state doesn't make Connecticut a good candidate for hosting any wind power projects, he said.

That means more transmission lines must be built from northern New England, where the bulk of the wind power projects are going to be built.

ISO-New England convened a group of more than 100 power suppliers, state officials and environmental organizations from around the region last fall to brainstorm ways to encourage more renewable energy projects to be built, van Welie said.

The group is scheduled to release its findings in August, but van Welie said it could be a decade or more before the region starts to see the number of new gas- or oil-fired power plants decrease and the number of renewable energy-fueled generation units increase.

"You have to do it as a region," he said. "One state isn't able to do it alone."