CPV seeks approvals to build a second plant adjacent to its current unit in Woodbridge. It’s the fourth plant seeking state and local approvals.
Competitive Power Venture’s Woodbridge Energy Center
Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:
At one time, the state was practically begging the energy sector to build new natural-gas plants. Not anymore.
Competitive Power Ventures, the owner of a 725-megawatt power plant in Woodbridge Township, is seeking approval to build another natural-gas plant adjacent to its existing unit in the Keasbey section of the community.
The project is the latest seeking to cash in on the cheap natural gas provided by plentiful supplies that have been exploited in the Marcellus Shale formation of Pennsylvania, a trend that has driven down both electricity and heating costs for consumers and businesses.
Four plants seeking approvals
The proposal is the fourth natural-gas plant seeking necessary approvals from local and state permitting authorities. But it also raises questions about whether the sector has absorbed the message from the Murphy administration that it wants to have 100 percent clean energy by 2050.
Besides the new plant in Woodbridge, there are proposals to build gas-fired units in Cape May, in the Meadowlands in North Bergen, and along the Musconetcong River in Holland Township.
During the Christie administration, the state was so anxious to get power plants built and thus bring down high energy prices that it proposed subsidizing three new facilities to the tune of more than $1 billion. The plan was scrapped once it was ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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