Power plant to provide electricity for Indiana customers

Indiana electric cooperative leaders, state and local officials, members of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and neighboring property owners were among those in attendance September 15 as ground was broken for the Lawrence Generating Station.

The 258-megawatt natural gas-fired facility will provide electricity to nearly half-a-million Indiana consumers served by 40 electric cooperatives (REMCs and RECs).

Hoosier Energy and Wabash Valley Power Association, power suppliers for the state’s electric cooperatives, are partners in the generating plant scheduled for completion by May 2005.

The $86 million project on a 48-acre site between Bedford and Mitchell will help meet the power needs of the state’s consumer-owned electric cooperatives. The plant will include six simple-cycle combustion turbines to produce power at times when consumer demand is high or when base load plants are out of service.

“Cooperatives are owned and governed by the people we serve and our mission is to serve those members well,” said Steve Smith, Hoosier Energy President and Chief Executive Officer. “The plant that Hoosier Energy and Wabash Valley Power are building here will play an important role in fulfilling that mission.

“The Lawrence generating plant will be among the most efficient, cleanest, flexible and economical peaking facilities in the nation. We will be proud to have our name on it,” Smith added.

State Senator Becky Skillman, a Lawrence County resident, was a special guest at the groundbreaking.

“This venture is indeed rural economic development. The project will bring engineering and construction jobs to Lawrence County, said Skillman. “Hoosier Energy and Wabash Valley Power will be great corporate citizens.”

The plant will increase the reliability of electric supply and help manage power market risks for Indiana’s electric cooperatives. As well, the facility will add to the tax base of Lawrence County. The facility is expected to employ six workers. Up to 120 workers are expected to be employed during the construction phase.

The Industrial Company will provide engineering, construction and procurement services. The combustion turbine supplier is General Electric Aero Energy Products.

The site in southern Lawrence County was selected due to its proximity to natural gas and water supply, and access to Hoosier Energy’s high-voltage transmission (161-kilovolt) lines.

Bloomington-based Hoosier Energy is the power supplier for 17 central and southern Indiana electric cooperatives that serve 260,000 consumers in 48 counties. Its member systems include Orange County REMC, Daviess-Martin County REMC, Jackson County REMC and Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC, all of which serve a portion of Lawrence County.

Hoosier Energy’s generation resources include two coal-fired power plants: the 1,070 megawatt Merom Generating Station in Sullivan County and the 250 megawatt Ratts Station in Pike County; and the 174 megawatt Worthington Station in Greene County. The power supplier also operates a transmission network with 1,400 miles of line and 200 substations.

Indianapolis-based Wabash Valley Power Association supplies electricity to 27 electric cooperatives that serve 240,000 customers in northern Indiana, southern Michigan, northwestern Ohio and Illinois. The association has partial ownership in Cinergy’s Gibson Station near Princeton.

Hoosier Energy will operate the Lawrence County plant and own four generating units. Wabash Valley Power will own two units.