GOOD SPRING - A Canadian power developer is planning to build a second 300-megawatt generation plant in the county on a site where it had once envisioned a plant fueled by coal.
EmberClear Corp., a publicly traded company and energy developer specializing in low emission commercial scale projects worldwide, is focused primarily on natural gas in the United States as an input to create electricity, industrial chemicals or transportation fuels. It owns about 560 acres in the Porter Township village of Good Spring.
The company has one project, Good Spring NGCC 1 electricity plant in Porter Township, that's tentatively ready to begin construction in 2013. It announced plans Tuesday to build a similar second plant, Good Spring NGCC 2, a natural gas combined cycle electricity plant also capable of serving 300,000 or more households in the northeastern U.S.
"Good Spring NGCC 1 is preparing for construction and undergoing the normal sales process for a developer," James Palumbo, president of EmberClear Power Pennsylvania Inc., said in a prepared statement. "Having Good Spring NGCC 2 follow in its footsteps will benefit everyone. We look forward to extending the years of continued community and regulatory support for our efforts with this new project."
Site control, feasibility and PJM-interconnection filings have been accomplished and EmberClear plans to complete all necessary permitting requirements in the coming months. PJM Interconnection is a regional transmission organization and is the world's largest competitive wholesale electricity market, of which more than 650 companies are members.
EmberClear previously selected SK E&C USA to build the first Good Spring Natural Gas Combined Cycle power plant. Albert Lin, CEO of EmberClear, estimated it would cost up to $400 million to build, employ 500 construction workers and be completed by 2015.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy EIA 2010 results, both plants rate 20 percent more efficient than an average natural gas power plant and 38 percent more efficient than the average coal-fired plant.
The press release also stated that EmberClear originally planned to build a coal-to-gas plant on the Good Spring property, where it owns anthracite deposits, but a projected steady supply of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale development led the company to rethink the plant's long-term fuel needs.
Just as with Good Spring NGCC 1, when construction begins for Good Spring NGCC 2 it could result in employing about 500 workers for two years, culminating in dozens of full-time positions for plant operations. The economic impact to the surrounding area is expected to be more than $1 billion over 15 years, according to an EmberClear press release.
It also benefits greatly from the experience and relationships obtained during the development of Good Spring NGCC 1, with similar engineering, regulatory requirements, natural gas supplies, pipelines, grid interconnection and labor market conditions.
For more information about EmberClear or the Good Spring power plants, visit www.emberclear.com.