PSEG to build 1,186 Mw facility at Linden

July 19, 2000
Demonstrating the value of existing permitted sites, PSEG Power LLC, Newark, NJ, said it will build a new, two-unit, 1,186 Mw natural-gas fired combined cycle generating facility at its Linden generating station, Linden, NJ, and retire three 436 Mw oil-fired steam units.


Demonstrating the value of existing permitted sites, PSEG Power LLC, Newark, NJ, said it will build a new, two-unit, 1,186 Mw natural-gas fired combined cycle generating facility at its Linden generating station, Linden, NJ, and retire three 436 Mw oil-fired steam units.

The $590 million project is slated for completion in May 2003. PSEG Power, an independent electric generating and trading company and unit of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., was established last summer as a result of electric industry restructuring in New Jersey.

Including the Linden units, PSEG Power said it will have almost 13,000 Mw of electric generating capacity in operation, under acquisition, or in development.

This portfolio includes generating assets being acquired from PSEG Power's utility affiliate, Public Service Electric & Gas Co.; the 400-Mw Albany steam station, acquired in May from Niagara Power Corp; 550 Mw of nuclear generating capacity being acquired from Conectiv Energy; and a new, 500 Mw gas-fired, combined cycle addition to the Bergen generating station, Ridgefield, NJ, scheduled for completion in 2002.

Redevelopment of the Linden site began in 1995 with the installation of two simple-cycle, gas-fired turbine generators intended to serve peak energy demand. Two similar units were completed this spring. PSEG Power is exploring opportunities to use treated waste water for all or part of cooling water requirements at the site, the company said.

A spokesman said PSEG Power will rely on Public Service Electric & Gas Co. to buy gas for the Linden project.

As approval for sites for new power plants grows more difficult to obtain, redevelopment of so-called brownfield sites is becoming more popular, analysts say.

Construction of the new plant and the retirement of the existing oil-fired units will complete the redevelopment of the Linden generating station into a facility capable of serving a variety of electric demand requirements in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection market area, said PSEG Power Pres. Frank Cassidy.

Three original oil-fired steam units were built in 1956 in one of the first and largest cogeneration projects in the US, PSEG said. Steam from the station was piped under the turnpike to an Exxon refinery for use in the process.