Nov 23 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Tom Ragan Standard-Speaker, Hazleton, Pa.


A company that already produces energy is considering solar panels as an additional heat and energy source.

Kline Township officials recently met with officials of Northeastern Power, owner of the cogeneration plant off Route 309 south of McAdoo.

Edward Missal, plant manager, said the company is in the talking stages of the solar panel project.

"We met to discuss what procedures have to be taken with the township zoning and planning departments," Missal said. "Right now it's only in the talking stage."

The company is willing to invest in solar energy simply because it has more than 440 acres of land that isn't being used and there is a possibility the government may have some incentives for solar energy use, according to Missal.

The company is reclaiming about 440 acres of abandoned strip mines and filling it with ash that is generated from waste anthracite coal, or culm, in the area.

The electricity generated by the plant is sold to PPL.

"We also provide steam to the Van Hoekelen Greenhouses," Missal said.

It keeps the greenhouses' Christmas cactus and poinsettias at a desirable 70 degrees, according to Missal.

The cogeneration plant's Web site says a single, circulating, fluidized bed boiler produces steam for both electrical generation and thermal energy to heat the seven-acre greenhouse adjacent to the plant.

Missal wouldn't say how much it would cost his company to install solar panels; however, if the company decides to go through with the project it would create some construction jobs.

The solar project would add only about five megawatts to the 50 megawatts of energy the company produces.

Presently, the cogeneration plant burns tons of waste piles of coal to produce the electricity for PPL and the steam for Van Hoekelen.

Northeastern Power employs 32 people full time and another 20 subcontract full-time workers.

Missal stressed that the solar project is only in the talking stage right now.

"A lot of it depends on business development and in the business world things could change quickly," he said.

SUEZ Energy Generation NA purchased Northeastern Power from Reading Energy in 1996. The cogeneration plant began operating in July 1989. SUEZ Energy North American Affiliate is the parent company; it's a worldwide firm that employs 149,000 people.

According to a cogeneration technologies Web site, cogeneration produces 10 percent of the nation's electricity and saves its customers up to 40 percent on their energy expenses.

The same Web site explains the cogeneration process, which also is known as "combined heat and power." The simultaneous production of heat, usually in the form of hot water and/or steam and power utilizing one primary fuel such as natural gas, oil, diesel fuel, propane, coal and wood.

tragan@standardspeaker.com

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