The former NRG power plant in Dunkirk closed in 2016. File photo

DUNKIRK — After being unused for more than a decade, some Chautauqua County leaders want to see the NRG plant in Dunkirk repowered, either with natural gas or as a micro-nuclear energy facility.

During the recent county legislature meeting, Legislator Jamie Gustafson, R-Lakewood, requested the county clerk draft a letter of support, endorsing the “continued exploration of innovative energy solutions.”

Her request came after County Executive PJ Wendel, IDA Chief Executive Officer Mark Geise, Assemblyman Andrew Molitor, state Sen. George Borrello and others met with representatives from the governor’s office about repowering NRG.

The power plant has been idle since 2016.

In a follow up interview, Wendel said the conversation took place in Dunkirk and included other energy experts, but NRG representatives were not in attendance.

Wendel said since the fall, he has been having conversations about micro-nuclear energy.

He said he would like to see NRG repowered in the near future with natural gas and long term with nuclear energy. “We looked at the option of repowering the two existing turbines that are still there until 2040 by which time we would actively or support active exploration of micro-modular nuclear,” he said.

MICRO-NUCLEAR ENERGY

In Wendel’s State of the County address, which he gave in March, he announced that he would be launching a committee that would explore nuclear opportunities, saying “I strongly feel that micro-nuclear energy could make Chautauqua County a major electricity producer that would not only meet our community’s energy needs but those in the entire region across New York state.”

Following Gustafson’s comments at the April meeting, Legislator Fred Larson said that he would like to see a presentation on small nuclear plants before signing a letter that Gustafson proposed.

In the follow up interview, Wendel said they’ve done their homework.

“We’ve produced a research white paper, if you will. We started this about two months ago,” he said.

He noted that micro-nuclear energy has been used by the Navy for decades.

“This technology has been on our battleships, submarines and aircraft carriers since the ’50s. So it’s not like it’s experimental technology,” Wendel said.

Coincidentally, at the April county legislature meeting, Mayville resident Jennifer Baker discussed her military experience and concerns.

“I was on a nuclear ship. I know they’re being decommissioned and there’s a lot of issues with figuring out what to do with the nuclear waste, so when you’re doing a report I would like everyone to consider where does the waste go,” she said.

NATURAL GAS

Part of the reason Wendel is pushing natural gas now is that nationwide, NRG has converted some of its old coal burning plants into natural gas. Wendel believes that could happen in Dunkirk fairly quickly, compared to converting it into a micro-nuclear facility.

“Information I have out of the White House is this (natural gas) something that the president is looking at. It’s a very clean, very robust renewable,” he said.

Wendel also notes the strong history of natural gas locally.

“We are the birthplace of natural gas in this county – the first well, the first transmission … Why would we walk away and not use the abundance of natural gas in the area?” he asked.

Back in December, 2013, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo made his first public visit to Dunkirk. During his talk, he said that NRG was going to invest $150 million, converting all three units from coal to natural gas.

“As governor, I’m proud to support this because it will help the state overall. God forbid, if we were to lose the plant, that would have been devastating, but I believe this is part of Western New York’s rebirth and I believe it starts here with this optimism in the room,” Cuomo said while standing in front of a packed room at the Clarion Hotel.

But that conversion never happened and Dunkirk, in particular, paid the price, losing millions of dollars in tax revenue.

Wendel blames Cuomo.

“The governor blocked it. Gov. Cuomo put the end to that. It was his directive. We were not going to repower that with natural gas and that’s a shame,” he said.

But further examination of the history is more complex.

After Cuomo’s announcement, Entergy, which owns the Indian Point nuclear plant in Westchester County, filed a lawsuit challenging the deal and state subsidies for Dunkirk, saying subsidy payments from the state and ratepayers amounted to unlawful tampering in wholesale electricity markets.

Then in 2015, the Sierra Club and a group of more than 70 New York state elected officials asked Cuomo to reconsider subsidies for coal plants in the state, including Dunkirk, saying, “The Dunkirk coal plant bailout will cost New York energy customers over $200 million over the next 10 years, plus an additional $15 million from the New York Power Authority.”

NRG idled the coal plant in January 2016. The Entergy lawsuit was dropped that November.

NRG then said it would resurrect its plan to repower Dunkirk with natural gas. But NRG said the delay caused by the lawsuit meant the plant lost its original grid interconnect.

In July 2018, NRG had completely abandoned its proposal to repower the Dunkirk plant with natural gas.

POWER Magazine, which focuses on the power generation industry, reported in 2018 that the New York Independent System Operator Inc, which manages the state’s power grid, said NRG’s right to tie the plant back into the grid had expired due to the length of time the plant was idle.

At that time NRG had estimated it would have to pay between $5 million and $45 million in new interconnection fees and would be responsible for additional costs to bring the interconnections up to current reliability standards.

“It’s important to note that Dunkirk lost its (original) interconnection only because Entergy had sued the NYPSC, seeking to invalidate the contract between Dunkirk and National Grid,” NRG spokesman David Gaier said in the magazine. “We share the community’s disappointment that this project has not come to fruition.”

GAS, NUCLEAR OR SOMETHING ELSE

While Wendel proposes using natural gas now and then transitioning it to a micro-nuclear plant in the future, he’s not locked in to that scenario.

“We’re looking at everything. We need to have all options ready,” he said.

Right now, Wendel doesn’t think tearing down the NRG plant is a realistic option.

“We heard numbers of $300-$500 million to clean up that site, and then at best it’s a brownfield. You’re never going to get it back to a pristine area to develop condominiums or anything like that,” he said.

He could even see a scenario where Dunkirk has its own Board of Public Utilities like Jamestown does.

“The opportunities are limitless,” he said.

The important issue in Wendel’s mind is the owner of the idle plant itself.

“Our next step right now is we want to bring NRG to the table and say, ‘Listen, this is what we’re looking to do with your facility, where are you guys? … NRG has to come to the table first,” he said.