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Reed has vision for power station

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed

Is the repowering of NRG a lost cause? Perhaps not, said U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, in his conversation with the OBSERVER last week. While the failure of the plant to repower is certainly a disappointment to the city and the region, Reed believes bringing in a new operator may be the best solution, in his opinion.

Reed acknowledged that one of the biggest energy challenges New York state faces is the need for a pipeline to transfer shale gas from Pennsylvania to the region. He pointed to barriers on the state level as the greatest obstacle to both the pipeline and the repowering of NRG, the latter of which he finds particularly disappointing due to the tremendous amount of local support for the repowering of the Dunkirk plant.

Reed said, “I know Cathy (Young) is working very hard in the state capital and with others to identify bringing in a new operator directly to the facility. We’re helping her and supporting her with whoever we can connect her with in order to come in and put this to work. I really see that as our best option, going forward. I don’t want to say it’s our only option, but that is a very difficult building to reuse.”

Reed is not the only official to consider other uses for the immense building, but he believes the chances for redevelopment are slim. “I don’t know any visionary that’s going to come in and convert that into something productive. It’s a very singular-use type of facility. So having a natural gas producer utilizing that building, I think, is critical,” he stated.

Currently, Reed is unaware of any plants in the state that have repowered with another operator, but looked to a “quasi-similar” plant in Dresden, south of Geneva, N.Y., for hope. He explained that the smaller power producer faced similar obstacles to the Dunkirk plant in trying to convert from coal to straight natural gas. However, Reed pointed out that the project lacked the critical component of local support. Eventually, Atlas Holdings came in and combined natural gas with a green component, which was successful to the plant repowering in 2016. Reed also addressed a particularly hot topic in Chautauqua County: wind energy. He said, “We’ve been supportive (of the wind towers going up). But full disclosure here: we are the wind and solar production/investment tax credit republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee. I see a role for wind. I see a role for solar. I see a role for our other alternative renewables.” Reed’s big-picture outlook on energy also includes a need for non-renewable energy, as technology evolves to keep up with industrial demands.

He explained, “We have policies that say we support fossil fuel development, but at the same time we want to look for that ‘over-the-horizon’ new technology coming down the pipeline and just be supportive of it. If you look at our energy portfolio, in my opinion, there are pieces that can be served with wind. There are pieces that can be served with solar and alternative renewables, but we’re not yet there with the technology to service our industrial load, our industrial demand for non-fossil fuel types of energy.”

Coming Monday: Reed discusses Problem Solvers Caucus.

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