NEW YORK - The New York Siting Board approved independent power producer Mirant Corp.'s application to build a large power plant along the Hudson River north of New York City, the board said in a statement.
Atlanta-based Mirant wants to add a 750 megawatt (MW) unit at its Bowline station in Haverstraw in Rockland County about 35 miles north of New York City. The planned expansion unit will burn both natural gas and fuel oil to generate electricity, similar to the two operating units at the station.
The existing Bowline units 1 and 2 are each capable of generating 621 MW. They were built in the late 1960s and entered service in 1972 and 1974, respectively.
The new unit 3 will be connected to the electric systems of two of Consolidated Edison Inc.'s electric distribution subsidiaries - Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc. and Orange and Rockland Utilities - through an underground cable.
Mirant, which owns power plants in North America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia, bought Bowline in June 1999 as New York was restructuring its electricity market from Orange and Rockland.
Specifically, the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment (Siting Board) approved, with conditions, Mirant's application for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need.
Mirant Bowline filed an application for the certificate on March 20, 2000.
In addition to the Siting Board's Certificate, Mirant is required to comply with air and water quality permits issued by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and with separate certificates for electric and natural gas transmission facilities issued by the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC).
The Siting Board consists of the chairman of the PSC, the commissioner of the DEC, the commissioner of the Department of Health, the chairman of the Empire State Development Corp., the chairman of the Energy Research and Development Authority and two additional local members named by the governor to consider each application.
NYC POWER PROJECTS
Since 1999, more than 50 facilities, totaling more than 23,000 MW of electric generating capacity, have been proposed for the New York City area.
To date, however, only about 600 MW of generating capacity have been put into service by the New York Power Authority at 10 small turbines in New York City and by El Paso Corp. at a power plant in Linden, New Jersey.
No other plants are expected to enter service in the city in 2002.
Energy experts have long said that only about a third of proposed power plant projects are actually built.:
