Preliminary work on Renovo Energy project begins Monday
RENOVO, PA – A Pennsylvania-based environmental company will be on site at the old Renovo rail yards early next week, the first step in moving forward with the Renovo Energy Center project since the state Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday gave its approval to the project’s updated permit request.
Project officials and local economic officials said on Friday they were pleased with the long-awaited DEP approval, a key step in the so far seven year old process to bring the natural gas-to-electricity facility to fruition.
Etterele & Associates of Bellefonte is expected to begin site work on Monday, per a message shared by project director Rick Franzese with Renovo borough council members. Initial work, he told them, is to confirm there is enough “clean fill” on site to meet the needs of the facility. Work by the Etterele company is expected to take several days.
Franzese told council, “This work is a positive sign for the project, and we remain optimistic that we will be starting construction before the year is through.”
Mike Flanagan, President/CEO of the Clinton County Economic Partnership, has been monitoring project progress since plans were first revealed in 2014. He provided this statement to therecord-online: “We thank DEP for its review and approval of this important part of the power plant project. We also thank Bechtel and others for their investment in this project and look forward to it coming to fruition. We have also had the support of Renovo Council, the county commissioners, the Renovo Community Trade Association, Rep. Stephanie Borowicz and Sen. Chris Dush. Rowing in the same direction goes a long way for a project of this magnitude.”
DEP’s Thursday air quality permit approval is a significant step forward for the natural gas-to-electricity power plant. DEP’s north-central office had been reviewing more than 50 public comments relative to a revised permit request from REC. The state agency’s “final determination” includes a 48 page document which contains DEP responses to questions raised by the public up to a Dec. 7, 2020 comment deadline.
Megan Lehman, Environmental Community Relations Specialist at DEP’s Williamsport office told therecord-online the formal approval and related information were to be posted on Friday on DEP’s website under “What’s New” at https://www.dep.pa.gov/About/Regional/North-central-Regional-Office/Community-Information/Pages/default.aspx,
Once construction begins, developers have said, as many as 700 workers could be involved in that process expected to take an estimated 32 months to complete. Ultimately some 25 to 30 permanent jobs are to result. When the estimated $800 million project is completed, the power generated there will flow to the PJM grid.
