Proposed Renovo Energy Center gets conditional county planning approval

LOCK HAVEN — Western Clinton County’s proposed $900 million gas-fired power plant moved a step closer to reality tonight when the Clinton County Planning Commission gave unanimous conditional approval to plans presented by the site developer for the Renovo Energy Center.

William Bousquet, representing Innovative Power Solutions, LLC made a detailed presentation on the planning submitted for the mammoth plant ticketed for the former rail yards on the north side of Renovo. After his hour long presentation the county planning commission agreed to move the project along, approval conditioned on the developer’s providing additional information in several areas, including noise standards and parking.

A delegation from Renovo borough council sat in on the meeting. Afterwards council president Ann Tarantella said, “We’re ready to welcome them” and council member Kari Kepler exclaimed, “Start building.”

Bousquet said the project timeline calls for demolition of the old shops scheduled for next August, construction to begin in October of next year. All pending regulatory approvals are expected by the end of March of next year.

Information provided included word that the tallest structure on the plant site will be a 165-foot stack, Bousquet noting for the Renovo group it will have the word “Renovo” painted on it. He said the construction phase will be a “union” project and said plans call for access into and out of the construction site will likely be by way of the gravel road along the Norfolk-Southern railroad right-of-way leading off Route 120 on the east end of Renovo.

The plant will consist of two 475-megawatt natural gas turbine boilers, two heat recovery steam generators, two banks of air-cooled condensers and two stacks. Bousquet said the turbines will be at two different voltages as one will feed into a New York state power line and the other into the PJM grid.