Startup delay: Economy pushes opening of GRE plant operations to 2012
A slow economy and a lagging demand for electricity will delay the start of operations at the Great River Energy plant at Spiritwood, according to Rick Lancaster, vice president for generation for GRE. “There are a couple of reasons for this,” he said. “The slowdown in the market due to the recession means that prices and demand are down and, because we are a cooperative, we charge rates based on assets in service and by delaying the operations we can give our rate payers a break.”By: Keith Norman, The Jamestown Sun
A slow economy and a lagging demand for electricity will delay the start of operations at the Great River Energy plant at Spiritwood, according to Rick Lancaster, vice president for generation for GRE.
“There are a couple of reasons for this,” he said. “The slowdown in the market due to the recession means that prices and demand are down and, because we are a cooperative, we charge rates based on assets in service and by delaying the operations we can give our rate payers a break.”
Lancaster said construction is on schedule for completion on Oct. 1, 2010. Putting the plant online is delayed 15 months to Jan. 1, 2012. In the meantime the plant will hire 16 of its full crew of 24 people and provide some steam to the Cargill Malt.
“We’ll provide steam from natural gas boilers to Cargill,” Lancaster said. “The staff will make sure everything stays operational and that we can fire things up in the early fall of 2011 and be fully operational on the first of the year.”
Lancaster said a lack of another user of steam from the plant is a minor factor in the decision.
“The lack of another steam user is a third-level factor,” he said. “We still anticipate a third steam user but that is four or five years away.”
The Spiritwood Energy Park was designed to allow waste steam left over after the generation of electricity to be used at the Cargill Malt and a future ethanol or bioenergy plant.
Lancaster said the effect of the delay in startup of the GRE plant on the community will be minor.
“About the only difference in the community is there will be eight fewer jobs between this fall and when we start in 15 months,” he said.
The move does delay some new tax revenue to the county.
Coal-fired generators are taxed on the amount of coal they burn rather than paying a property tax, said Marcy Dickerson, property tax division manager for the North Dakota Tax Department. If they aren’t burning coal they aren’t taxed.
“We won’t have any responsibility under the coal conversion tax,” Lancaster said. “But that is not one of the reasons behind this.”
Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at (701) 952-8452 or by e-mail at knorman@jamestownsun.com
Tags: local news, local business, great river energy, business, news, economy, gre, electricity, power
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