Proposed Renovo Energy Center Clears Water Withdrawal Hurdle

LANCASTER — The proposed Renovo Energy Center moved another step closer to reality this month when the Susquehanna River Basin Commission gave its approval to an REC request for water withdrawal from the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.

The okay came at the recent SRBC quarterly business meeting in Lancaster. The energy center received SRBC permission to withdraw up to 300,000 gallons of water per day.

The water would be used in the process to convert the Northeast’s abundant natural gas to electricity, part of the state-of-the-art gas fired power plant proposed for the old Renovo rail yards.

Local economic officials see that approval as key, one of the significant matters to be resolved as the planned $800 million project moves forward. If the process continues on schedule, sources tell therecord-online, REC officials may be presenting project drawings to the Clinton County Planning Commission for its review at that organization’s monthly meeting in mid-July.

As announced in October of last year, if all prior hurdles are cleared, the energy center would see construction begin in the second quarter of 2017 and would take 32 months to complete. It would entail a construction force of up to 700 at its peak and REC officials said there would be an emphasis on employing local labor.

Once done the energy center would employ a staff of 20 to 30 during the plant’s 25-plus years’ life expectancy. The Renovo Energy Center team is led by Bechtel Development Company, the project development and financing arm of Bechtel Corporation, described as “a leading global engineering, project management and construction company.”