P-J file photo

DUNKIRK — The sun may very well be setting over the repowering of NRG in Dunkirk from coal to natural gas. NRG Spokesman David Gaier says there’s massive uncertainty over the refiring due to the unanticipated cost of interconnecting the plant to the regional electrical power system and the schedule in getting it done.

Gaier told The Post-Journal that the New York Independent System Operator interconnection process is a key requirement for returning the Dunkirk plant back to service on gas. NYISO manages New York’s electrical grid and its competitive wholesale markets.

Recently, NYISO informed Dunkirk that NRG’s cost to re-interconnect could exceed $100 million. He said that’s more than the entire repowering project of $15 million.

Gaier also said Dunkirk’s electrical characteristics are remaining the same and there’s no increase in power input. He said the project would return three units on gas where before they had four units on coal.

“This massive cost was unanticipated when NRG signed the Dunkirk contract. Originally, no interconnection costs were forecasted,” he said.

In addition, NYISO also states that the interconnection requires transmission upgrades in both Pennsylvania and New York to import power from outside New York. As a result of that and some other transmission upgrades that the NYISO must oversee, it’s possible Dunkirk wouldn’t even be able to deliver energy until as late as 2024.

Gaier called the recent events deeply disappointing. Gaier said the cost alone makes the project uneconomic and impossible, and added to that the many years of potential delay for NYISO to complete its planned transmission upgrades.

“These issues of cost for interconnection and schedule for the transmission upgrades and when we could actually deliver energy has just created a massive uncertainty,” Gaier said. “We have done everything possible to keep this project on track. We’ve worked closely with the community, and local and state political leaders for years. We’ve made significant investments to keep the project alive. Dunkirk cannot overcome what we understand currently is a massive, unplanned potential cost increases and scheduled delays that are being put on the project by the NYISO.”

In 2013, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the Dunkirk Power Plant would repower and expand from a coal to a natural gas facility. Under the agreement at the time, the facility would have been in service by fall 2015.

In 2015, Entergy corporation, a power company, filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Public Service Commission related to the Dunkirk agreement. Entergy asserted that the PSC’s approval of the Dunkirk term sheet intruded on the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The lawsuit was dismissed following the sale of Entergy to Excelon in November 2016. Local and state officials expressed optimism that NRG would repower.

As to the exponential increase for the interconnect, Gaier said the lawsuit that delayed the project resulted in NRG losing its original interconnect. When they first agreed to do the project, Gaier said the cost for the interconnect was zero.

“After the delay, assuming we keep to our schedule, the cost would be $15 million,” he said. “The cost now could be $115 million. We’re now being told by NYISO that we’d have to go through a separate process with additional cost to enable NYISO to import power from outside New York. Those are the real issues.”