Hoosier Energy has awarded an engineering, construction and procurement services contract to The Industrial Company to build a peaking power plant in Lawrence County.
Site preparation for the 258-megawatt natural gas-fired generating facility will continue throughout 2003 with major plant construction work to begin in 2004. The target commercial operation date for the plant, which will provide peaking power for Indiana electric cooperative (REMC/REC) consumers, is May 2005.
Hoosier Energy and Wabash Valley Power Association, power suppliers for the state's electric co-ops, are partners in the generating facility to be built on a 48-acre site between Bedford and Mitchell.
The $86 million project includes six simple-cycle combustion turbines that will produce power at times when consumer demand is high or when baseload plants are out of service.
Hoosier Energy will construct and operate the plant and own four of the six generating units. Wabash Valley Power will own two units.
The additional peaking resource will increase the reliability of electricity supply and help to better manage costs for Indiana's electric cooperatives. The facility is expected to employ five to eight workers.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and Indiana Department of Environmental Management have approved permits for construction of the plant.
The site in southern Lawrence County was selected due to its proximity to natural gas and water supply, and access to Hoosier Energy's high-voltage transmission (161-kilovolt) lines. Hoosier Energy will upgrade transmission facilities and construct a switchyard. Cinergy transmission lines in the area will also be improved.
Bloomington-based Hoosier Energy is the power supplier for 16 central and southern Indiana electric cooperatives that serve 235,000 consumers in 48 counties. Its member systems include Orange County REMC, Daviess-Martin County REMC and Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC, all of which serve a portion of Lawrence County.
Hoosier Energy's generating resources include two coal-fired power plants: the 1,070-megawatt Merom Gnerating Station in Sullivan County and the 250-megawatt Ratts Station in Pike County; and the 174-megawatt Worthington peaking facility in Greene County.
The power supplier also operates a transmission network with 1,400 miles of line and more than 200 distribution substations. For more information about Hoosier Energy, visit the web site www.hepn.com.
Indianapolis-based Wabash Valley Power Association supplies electricity to 27 electric cooperatives that serve 250,000 customers in northern Indiana, Illinois, southern Michigan and northwestern Ohio.
Based in Colorado, the Industrial Company is a leading industrial contractor serving power generators. For more information, see the web site www.tic-inc.com.