Supporters of plans to build a wind farm off the coast or a “clean coal” plant at Indian River defended those proposals Monday, sometimes heatedly, at a public meeting at Delaware Technical and Community College in Georgetown. Those two proposals and a natural gas plant proposal for north of Wilmington are vying for the right to enter into a long-term energy supply contract with Delmarva Power.
Evaluations performed by the state’s consultant and Delmarva Power ranked the Connectiv natural gas proposal most viable two weeks ago, with Bluewater Wind’s wind farm ranking second.
In grading for the evaluations, more of an impact was placed on price than any other factor — a fact that bothered some in attendance Friday. Delmarva Power has recommended denial of all the proposals, saying, as did the consultant, that it will be more expensive for customers to accept any of the three.
“If we do a cost-benefit analysis and do not acknowledge health-care costs associated with the burning of fossil fuels,” countered Pat Frey, who resides near Dagsboro, “it’s not only faulty economics. I personally think it’s immoral.”
The state’s independent consultant did not make a recommendation through its earlier evaluation, but one is expected on April 4. State agencies are reviewing the proposals and could have a decision on Delmarva Power’s future action by May 8.
Many wind power supporters in Georgetown on Tuesday agreed with Frey that effects on health should have been taken into consideration when officials graded the bids. Others supported as environmentally sound and reliable the coal plant’s plan to install new pollutant-reducing technology with “integrated gasification combined cycle” plans, or IGCC.
“The IGCC proposal will greatly reduce emissions,” said Ron Wilkosz, plant manager at the Indian River Power Plant, where the two oldest, most polluting units would be shut down if the “clean coal” plant plan is approved. “If you believe that any emissions are unacceptable, you must have arrived here tonight by walking, riding a bike or riding a horse. We believe that wind is part of the solution. But not as a baseload” source of power, he added.
The coal plant would greatly reduce emissions of harmful pollutants, possibly including CO2, by sequestering the gas — a still unproven technology, many have said.
David Walsh of the Building Trades Council touted coal’s reliability and attacked wind power supporters. He said that they are “advocating a pipe dream and missing out on what can actually be accomplished. Hopefully, cooler heads can prevail,” he added. “(Clean Coal plants are) feasible and can be done.”
However, Michael Rhue, a self-defined “practical environmentalist,” defended the wind proposal and advocated experimentation with alternative sources.
“If you’re not putting money into alternative energy, how do you expect the price to go down?” Rhue asked, comparing pricing to that of new digital calculators decades ago. “You have to have working, operating plants to work the bugs out. I can’t tell you what the price of gas and coal is going to be in 30 years. I can tell you what the price of wind is going to be. It’s free,” Rhue said loudly. “We’re suffering from stupidity.”
Public Service Commission officials have noted that all comments will be taken into consideration before they, and representatives from three other state agencies, make a decision, which could come as soon as May 8.
An NRG filing last week questioned the way the bids were graded and why price was prioritized as most important. Bluewater Wind is expected to submit similar comments.
NRG was graded well in the technology innovation category and Bluewater was predictably graded well in the environmental category. Both, though, were trumped by Conectiv’s gas plant proposal in price.
Buying energy from any of the three proposals, though, would be more expensive for Delmarva Power customers than buying it wholesale on the current market, both of the reports showed.