BIRDSBORO >> An application for water use by the proposed $399 million Birdsboro Power plant at the former Armorcast property has revealed that it will require a 2-mile water line, a 4-mile overhead power transmission line and a 14-mile natural gas line to operate.
The application was made to the Delaware River Basin Commission, a four-state quasi-federal agency that manages the entire Delaware River Watershed.
The deadline for written public comment on the application (which is viewable through a link in the online version of this article at www.pottsmerc.com) is 5 p.m. on Nov. 18.
Although the DRBC’s involvement with the project is primarily concerned with the 2.7 million to 3.07 million gallons of water the plant will use in any given day, other details of the proposed 485 mega-watt plant are also contained in the agency’s “docket.”
Despite the location of the proposed plant near the Schuylkill River, it will not draw water from the river for its operations.
Rather, water for the plant will be provided by the Reading Area Water Authority through a 2.5-mile 16-inch transmission line along Route 724 through Robeson Township and Kenhorst borough connecting the plant to the authority’s distribution system.
The DRBC agreed with the conclusions by engineers from Birdsboro Power that the water needs of the plant will not overtax the supply at Lake Ontelaunee, which is the City of Reading water authority’s main water supply.
One of the things that assured there would be enough water was the termination of another power plant proposal in Berks County, which had intended to use the same water supply.
In April, DRBC was notified that “due to market conditions,” the Dynegy Operating Co. has terminated plans for the 800 mega-watt Berks Hollow energy plant proposal in Ontelaunee Township, which also planned to use between 7 million and 9 million gallons of water per day from the Reading Area Water Authority.
The docket notes that the plant will also be connected to the Birdsboro Municipal Authority water supply, but will draw on that source only in an emergency. The municipal authority does not have an adequate water supply to provide water to the project.
However, the plant is proposed to discharge between 250,000 and 350,000 gallons of wastewater per day to the Birdsboro Wastewater Treatment plant, according to the docket.
In addition to the water line connecting to Reading’s water system, the plant will also require a 14-mile pipeline to connect to the Texas Eastern Transmission pipeline in Rockland Township to provide the fuel for the plant’s generators.
The pipeline will be owned by DTE Midstream Appalachia LLC, which is preparing an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees routes and construction of natural gas pipelines, according to the DRBC docket.
The pending DRBC approval for the plant will be withheld if the gas supply line is not approved and “Birdsboro Power LLC proceeds with construction of the Birdsboro Power facility at its own risk,” according to the docket.
Once the water line and gas line are secure, the plant also requires transmission lines to send the power it generates out into the electrical grid.
That will occur through an overhead four-mile transmission line that will extend from the plant through Exeter and Robeson townships, crossing the Schuylkill River twice, and terminating at a substation on Boonetown Road.
That power line will require a permanent 150-foot wide right of way that will be cleared of all “non-compatible vegetation, such as trees.”
The power lines will be held up by 29 110- to 140-foot monopole towers carrying three “conductor lines.”
Finally, because part of the proposed Birdsboro Power plant lies on the fringe of the Schuylkill River’s 100-year floodplain, plans call for the site to be raised four feet – one foot above the “regulatory flood elevation – and built on compacted soil.
In June, Birdsboro Borough Council granted the plant developers, EmberClear Corp., an extension until 2017 to present its final land development plans for the plant.
The plant has the potential to employ as many as 300 workers, according to the developers.
