MONTVILLE, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey-based power company has scrapped plans for a power plant using "clean coal" technology, but is moving ahead with a conventional gas-fired plant to produce electricity.
MONTVILLE, N.J. (AP) â A New Jersey-based power company has scrapped plans for a power plant using âclean coalâ technology, but is moving ahead with a conventional gas-fired plant to produce electricity.
NRG has canceled plans to build the $1.6 billion power plant in Montville using the coal technology, Ray Long, Northeast region director for the company, said Monday.
During the past year, NRG had proposed the âclean coalâ plant as a way to use a cheap domestic source of fuel to produce electricity for 500,000 or more average-size homes while greatly reducing the effect on the environment.
NRG officials said they decided to drop the coal technology because the company could noât build the planned 630-megawatt plant in time to receive state incentives.
The Department of Public Utility Control will choose a series of projects to receive the incentives, designed to stimulate the construction of new power plants. NRG planned to apply for the incentives, but the process of getting permits for a coal-powered plant would have taken longer than allowed under the state program, Long said.
Environmental groups were already fighting the plant, saying the new coal technology still produces carbon dioxide, which, unless captured, contributes to global warming. The technology to capture the gas is still being developed.