The shuttered NRG plant in Dunkirk will be appraised by a specialist company from New Hampshire. Photo by M.J. Stafford

DUNKIRK — An appraisal report is coming for Dunkirk’s mothballed NRG plant.

The city’s Common Council authorized $60,000 Tuesday for a report by Sansoucy Associates of Lancaster, N.H. The resolution passed by the council states Sansoucy “has extensive experience in performing timely and accurate valuation services of this nature.”

The city will get reimbursed by Chautauqua County and the Dunkirk school district “for the cost of the appraisal consistent with the prorated share of the cost for each taxing jurisdiction.”

It’s the latest in a list of studies in recent years eyeing what to do with the former electricity generation plant.

Buffalo firm Bergmann Associates was tapped in late 2019 to look at the site. Their report, released in March 2021, said it could cost $12 million to demolish the plant, $3 to $6 million to get rid of environmental hazards, then at least an additional $20 million to clean the area up for development.

The study also identified computer data storage or an industrial business as the best possible reuses for the power plant site. Repowering the plant, or using the site in an off-shore wind farm energy connection, were dismissed as not feasible.

The Chautauqua County Industrial Agency announced in December 2021 it got a $160,000 state grant to do a study focusing on environmental issues. That was weaved into a so-called “Phase 2” study, which was to start in April, intended to cover such things as detailed infrastructure assessment, legal issues and financial market analysis.

The plant on Dunkirk’s waterfront has sat vacant since 2016. NRG, which still owns it, had its two distinctive smokestacks removed in June 2021.