LS Power Pulls Plug on 750-MW Midland, Mich., Project
LS Power has abandoned a proposed 750-MW pulverized coal power project in Midland, Mich., citing economic and regulatory uncertainties.
The project had faced several hurdles over the past few years, causing delays and increasing cost and risk too much to continue development efforts, LS said in a release Friday. “Last year’s energy legislation in Michigan restricting the available customers for the project, combined with current economic conditions and regulatory uncertainties, has deferred the immediate need for base load energy from the project,” said Robert Colozza, LS vice president.
The company had spent $4 million developing the project and had been waiting almost two years for an air permit from the state Department of Environmental Quality.
In February, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, directed the state’s Department of Environmental Quality to evaluate, along with the Public Service Commission, “feasible and prudent alternatives” before giving coal-fired power plants in Michigan the green light.
“Given these factors, we determined it is not a wise business decision to continue active development of the [Mid-Michigan] project at this time,” Colozza said.
The project was the third coal-fired plant LS Power had postponed or pulled this year. Earlier, it canceled its $1.3 billion, 750-MW coal plant near Waterloo, Iowa, after dissolving a joint venture with Houston-based Dynegy. In March, it delayed a 1,600-MW coal project in White Pine County, Nev., a project to which it had pledged to remain committed. Permits for its 1,200-MW Longleaf project in Georgia are being challenged in court by environmental groups.
Source: LS Power, POWERnews