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Interactive map showing general vicinity of proposed natural gas power plant in Charles County.
LA PLATA, Md. (Dec. 10, 2008)—The Charles County Commissioners announced today that they have reached an agreement to form a partnership with Competitive Power Ventures, Inc. (CPV) to build a $500 million, 640-megawatt, natural gas combined cycle power plant in the Piney Reach Business Park near the Charles County Landfill on Billingsley Road. CPV plans to build and operate the new facility, known as CPV St. Charles, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, CPV Maryland, LLC. It is anticipated that CPV will begin operation of the plant in the summer of 2012.
The location is a 77-acre stretch of land zoned for industrial use. It is the same location designated in the former Kelson Ridge power plant proposal by Reliant Power in the early 2000's.
The site is adjacent to the landfill, an asphalt plant, and an existing high-voltage transmission line, thus eliminating the need to construct new transmission towers or power lines.
The Commissioners say the agreement brings to culmination almost 10 years of effort to attract an environmentally sensitive, state of the art, power generating facility to Charles County.
When completed, CPV St. Charles will be one of the cleanest natural gas facilities ever built in Maryland and the Washington, DC area, using clean-burning natural gas and helping reduce the dependency on older, less efficient power plants—which currently supply a majority of the region's power. The new facility will generate enough electricity to power 600,000 homes and use state-of-the-art technology to produce electricity efficiently and cleanly to help meet the State's demand for energy.
“It has been predicted that by the year 2012, portions of the state of Maryland will be experiencing rolling brown-outs due to the increasing use of electricity,” said Commissioner President Wayne Cooper. “We recognize the need to join all of Maryland in leveraging economic development and fiscal benefits to address energy needs.”
CPV St. Charles will also contribute to the clean up of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay by eliminating the disposal of up to several million gallons per day of treated effluent from operations at the Mattawoman Wastewater Treatment Plant, which would otherwise be discharged into the Potomac River. Treated effluent water from the Mattawoman facility will be used for cooling purposes.
“This agreement is part of the solution to one of the region’s top environmental priorities: saving the Chesapeake Bay,” said Doug Egan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CPV, which is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. “We’re pleased that our power plant will help clean up the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay by using several million gallons a day of treated wastewater that otherwise would have been disposed into the Potomac River.”
The principal terms of the agreement are that CPV will contract for 20 years, with the option of two 10-year renewals, for the purchase of up to 5.4 million gallons per day of treated reclaimed water from the Mattawoman Wastewater Treatment Plant during the period of June through October. During the period of November through May, CPV will purchase up to 3.6 million gallons per day. CPV will design, construct, and pay for an expansion of the County's existing Reclaim Water Facilities.
Charles County and CPV may finance construction of the expansion of the Reclaimed Water Facilities by pursuing up to $30 million in tax-exempt financing for a term of up to 30 years.
The County will treat and dispose of wastewater from the power plant at an average of 210,000 gallons per day. CPV will pay the County's established wastewater treatment rates and interconnect at the County's established interconnection fee.
CPV will make fixed payments to the County in lieu of the Property, Personnel, Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Medical Services Taxes. In addition, CPV will pay for treated reclaimed water utilized in the cooling process. The estimated total of these sources of revenue is approximately $56 million in a 15-year time span.
CPV St. Charles will be one of the largest taxpayers in Charles County. The Commissioners say the generated revenue collected from taxes and the sale of treated effluent water will be a major, long-term source of additional funding for infrastructure improvement projects and other services to county citizens.
Established in 1999, Competitive Power Ventures is a North American power industry development and asset management company. In addition to its Silver Spring, Maryland headquarters, CPV has offices in Boston and San Francisco.
Source: Charles County Commissioners