Local Firm Plans New Power Plant In Charles

A Silver Spring company announced plans yesterday to build a $400 million natural gas-fired power plant in Charles County, which would become the first new power plant in the region in decades and deliver electricity to the overburdened mid-Atlantic grid.

The 600-megawatt plant, to be built in Waldorf by Competitive Power Ventures, would generate enough electricity to power 600,000 homes. The facility would use clean-burning natural gas and other modern technologies that the company said would make it one of the cleanest natural gas plants in the nation.

The plant would reduce dependency on older coal-burning power plants that supply a majority of the Washington area's electricity, the company said.

"The facility that we will be proposing will be state-of-the-art technology, which means it makes the most efficient use of natural gas," project director Sharon Segner said.

Charles County officials hailed the announcement as an economic development coup, anticipating high-paying jobs and an estimated $2 million in annual tax revenue for the fast-growing Southern Maryland jurisdiction.

"It's a very clean power plant, and the electricity will serve us, as well as the metropolitan area," County Commissioners President Wayne Cooper (D) said.

The proposal is drawing protests from some residents, who say the availability of more electricity would stimulate more development and sprawl. "I'm just appalled at the thought that Charles County would embrace any new power plant," said Bonnie Bick, an environmentalist.

The Maryland Public Service Commission will review the project. Chairman Steven B. Larsen said yesterday that the commission has not made a decision on the proposal.

Competitive Power Ventures is a privately owned company that plans to sell its electricity to PJM Interconnection, which controls the electrical grid serving 13 mid-Atlantic states and the District.

Industry analysts said the natural- gas plant would help increase generation for the grid, which serves a growing population. "That would be a significant addition of capacity and a welcome one," said Jim Owen of the Edison Electric Institute.

Fadi Shadid, an energy analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., said the additional power could help reduce utility rates for customers in the Washington area. "It adds supply, and the more supply you have, the better for prices," Shadid said.

The plant would be built on a 77-acre parcel in St. Charles, county sources said. The property, which sits next to an asphalt plant and a high-voltage electricity transmission line, is zoned for industrial use.

Competitive Power Ventures was one of several companies bidding to buy the land from American Communities Properties Trust, the St. Charles developer, according to county government sources. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

Several years ago, another company tried to build a natural gas power plant on the site and received permits for the project, but abandoned its plans in 2002 because it was difficult to secure financing in the wake of the Enron scandal.

Competitive Power Ventures will have to gain new permits after environmental reviews.

Staff writer Matt Zapotosky and staff researcher Karl Evanzz contributed to this report.