The Village of Oakwood Hills is under considered for a site for a gas turbine electric generating plant.

Here’s what McHenry County Blog has found:

• an option running through March of 2014 has been been signed to purchase the property from Walneck Group
• Commonwealth Edison would like a peaker plant in the area
• the firm has met several times with the Oakwood Hills Village Board and its staff
• appropriate zoning already exists for the property, which is next to the Village Hall on Valley Hill Road
• a preliminary plan was discussed with the Illinois EPA in June of 2012

Commonly called “peaker plants,” the facilities are turned on when there is a need for electricity that regular suppliers of electricity, e.g., Com Ed, can’t supply.

Owners of peaker plants make money not only from supplying electricity in peak times, but also by selling rights to be first in line for such electricity in times of shortage.

The last proposals for peaker plants were for the area where Commonwealth Edison electric transmission wires and NICOR natural gas lines co-exist near the north leg of the intersection of Routes 176 and 47.  That was more than ten years ago.

Vigorous citizen opposition resulted.  Signs popped up saying, “Stop the Stacks.”

A primary objection was the amount of ground water that the facility would require.

Other objections were to pollutants that would be emitted and that it might drive up natural gas prices.  With the extraction of enough natural gas through fracking to drive the price down in North America and even prompt efforts to export it in container ships, driving up gas prices seems less relevant than before.

Several attempts to discover whether plans for a possibility peaker plant in Oakwood Hills had been discussed, using Freedom of Information Act requests, resulted in no confirmation being provided by Village officials.

So, I went looking elsewhere.

County planning and zoning folks have heard of no such inquires, but, if the plant were to be located within Oakwood Hills village boundaries, there would be no need to contact county officials.

When I asked the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, I received a reply that said the “facility” agenda and meeting notes for “Oakwood Hills Project” was exempt under the Freedom of Information Act.  However, other documents indicated that it was a “pre-application meeting.”

The Illinois EPA did provide other information.

First there was a sign-in sheet for a meeting about an “Oakwood Hills Power Project”:

Ken Snell of Sergeant and Lundy, Conrad Anderson, Director of Engineering for Enventure Partners and three EPA officials.

Also provided was an email sent prior to the June 11, 2012 meeting.

When: Monday, June 11, 2012 1:00 PM-3:00 PM (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada).
Where: Permit Section Conference Room

Note: The GMT offset above does not reflect daylight saving time adjustments.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

—–Original Appointment—–
From: Schnepp, Jason
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2012 7:39 AM

To: Schnepp, Jason; Smet, Robert
Subject: Oakwood Hills Project
When: Monday, June 11, 2012 1:00 PM-3:00 PM (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada).
Where: Permit Section Conference Room

Sargent & Lundy is serving as Enventure Partners’ Owner’s Engineer for this project. Ken Snell, one of S&L’s Senior Permitting Specialists will be participating in the meeting along with Conrad Anderson.

Fundamental info – location, fuel

Business Plan – What the proposed phases for this project will be and the per phase nature of each: type of turbine, MW rating, hours of operation

Emissions – GHG (include CO2, SF6), NOx, CO lb/MWh & tons/year totals per phase, same for SSM

Rule applicability – PSD/NAANSR, NSPS, Acid Rain, offsets?, etc. Will the project fall under electric utility steam generating units in both phases?

BACT (and LAER?) initial thoughts – most efficient turbines (to minimize GHG for both phases; why simple, rather than CC turbines?), control technology/ppm of NOx

Other documents showed that Enventure Partners and General Electric were involved in the proposal.  Planning began in 2010.

The plant would be “ultra clean and ultra efficient” upon it proposed opening in 2016.  It could be ramped up with wind turbines were not moving in Western Illinois and during peak air conditioning times.  The retirement of coal fired electric generating plants was also mentioned as favorable for the project.

Two sizes of plants are being considered–138kV or 345kV.  The larger one is a possibility because Com Ed says it is located “in an area that experiences seasonal periodic power transmission congestion.”

Com Ed and PJM Interconnection conducted a year-long feasibility study, concluding in May of 2012, that the cost would be $1.75 million to construct a 138kV connector and $3.5 million for 345kV.

The needed natural gas will come from a pipeline about a mile east.  Com Ed’s easement crosses the pipeline.  As of last summer, Enventure was applying for permission to run a connecting pipeline on that right-of-way.

Lintech Engineering was retained for well work.  Two 1380-foot wells are envisioned to pull a total of 2,200 gallons per minute out of the Ironton-Galesville Sandstone Aquifer.  A report says the water withdrawal will have no impact on Oakwood Hills residents because they are on shallow wells.

Assisting Lintech will be Crystal Lake-based Baxter & Woodman.

Construction of a peaker plant would provide significant assessed valuation now lacking in the residential village.