Nelson power plant begins operations

NELSON – Invenergy announced Monday that its Nelson Energy Center has started commercial operations, 9 years after the company bought the Lee County property for the natural gas-fired power generation plant.

Engineers on Friday completed performance testing operations on the 600-megawatt plant, the company said. One megawatt of power provides enough energy for about 1,000 homes.

The plant sits on 165 acres at 1311 Nelson Road, south of Rock Island Road. The combined-cycle plant uses two gas turbines and two steam turbines.

When Invenergy bought the property in 2006, it had plans to use ethanol and natural gas to generate electrical power.

At that time, the company said the plant would create 70 jobs. When plans for the ethanol portion of the project were scrapped, that number was reduced to an estimated 20 to 25 jobs.

NRG Energy had bought the property in 2001 to build a gas-fired electrical power plant. NRG, however, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2003 before completing the project.

The company confirmed Monday that 2 dozen full-time workers were at the Nelson plant. During construction, about 350 workers were brought to the site.

John Thompson, president and CEO of the Lee County Industrial Development Association, said the change in plans was dictated by market demand.

“It started out being twice as big of a project – it was going to have two gas and two steam turbines – but with all of the renewable fuels projects happening, they opted for less generating capacity,” Thompson said.

The plant still could become the biggest taxpayer in Lee County. Some of the tax revenue will also end up in Whiteside County. The plant probably won’t be fully assessed until the end of 2016.

“The assessor has to do a walk-through, and see what’s there now that it’s complete,” Thompson said. “It’s possible they could put a partial [assessment] on it for this year, and if everybody agrees on the valuation, we’ll have a full-year assessment for next year.”

Tax beneficiaries will be Rock Falls High School, East Coloma-Nelson Elementary School, Sauk Valley Community College, Lee County, Nelson Township, Nelson Highway Department, Rock Falls Fire Protection, and multiple Nelson and Harmon township entities.

Thompson said about 85 percent of the tax windfall will go to school districts.

Part of the energy produced at the Nelson plant will be sold to WPPI Energy, a regional power company that serves 51 locally owned, nonprofit electric utilities. The remaining power is sold into the PJM wholesale market.

Invenergy said this is a significant addition for the Chicago-based energy company.

“Invenergy is pleased to reach this milestone with Nelson, our first operating natural gas-fired power generation facility in our home state of Illinois,” said Jim Shield, chief development officer for Invenergy. “We’re proud to continue to invest in Illinois’ clean energy economy.”

The company also has wind, solar, and energy storage projects in Illinois.

The Nelson plant has its own water system, and it will be made available as a fire department fill site.