SATSOP — A 650-megawatt gas-fired power plant has passed its first operational test and may begin generating electricity commercially this spring, Grays Harbor County commissioners have been told.
“I’m pleased to report that at 4:28 p.m. on Feb. 1, we started loading electricity onto the grid,” said Thomas Donovan, project director for Grays Harbor Energy, a subsidiary of Invenergy of Chicago. “It’s been 30 years in the making, but power is finally coming off Fuller Hill.”
The test lasted only for seconds, but the plant might be producing electricity for sale as early as April, Donovan told commissioners Monday.
The plant, consisting of two natural gas-fired turbines and a steam turbine at the Satsop Development Park, is in the shadow of two Washington Public Power Supply system nuclear projects that were never completed after the consortium defaulted on $2.25 billion in bonds in the 1980s.
The $250 million gas-fired plant was started by Duke Energy, then was mothballed for six years before being sold to Invenergy in 2006.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
