Proposal For 2nd Woodbridge Power Plant Killed By Energy Company

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — In a stunning reversal, an energy company has now backed off their plans to open a second natural gas power plant in Woodbridge's Keasbey section.

The company is Competitive Power Ventures (CPV), which already operates an existing natural gas plant in the area. The second plant would have been built right next door to the first.

A CPV media spokesman said the company had to either start construction on the second plant by Sept 30, or withdraw entirely:

"The interconnection agreement between CPV Keasbey and PJM Interconnection reached a critical juncture on September 30, whereby the project either had to enter construction or withdraw from the agreement," said CPV spokesman Matt Litchfield. "Current PJM market conditions do not support construction of the project at this time and, as a result, CPV had to withdraw from the interconnection agreement."

Competitive Power Ventures already owns and operates the Woodbridge Energy Center, a 725-megawatt natural gas power plant at 1070 Riverside Drive in Keasbey. CPV has operated that plant since 2016.

For the past three years, CPV has been trying to open a second plant; here is CPV's public application for the second plant.

In order to even begin the process of building the second plant, CPV had to first obtain air quality approvals from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. For nearly the past three years now, the DEP has been sitting on their application, and never approved nor denied it.

Litchfield did say CPV will continue to "evaluate future opportunities at the site," which it owns.

Hundreds of NJ residents were against construction of second plant

Meanwhile, the second plant was very controversial: Hundreds spoke in public forums against it, begging Gov. Phil Murphy to reject it outright. Protests against the second plant were held all last summer outside Woodbridge town hall. Residents specifically cited air pollution and were concerned about a second fossil fuel plant opening in the area.

However, a few Woodbridge residents said they wanted the second plant to open, saying would bring union jobs: Woodbridge Residents Speak For And Against 2nd Natural Gas Power Plant (Feb. 27, 2023)

Then in March of this year, the DEP issued $69,000 in fines to CPV, for air quality violations the state says it found at the plant dating back to 2015. In an unusual move, the DEP released the violations to the media, including the Newark Star-Ledger and Patch.

Gov. Murphy never publicly said whether he was for or against the second plant's opening, although the second plant would go directly against his goal of moving New Jersey to entirely renewable energy by 2035.

Both CPV plants — the existing and the proposed second one — use natural gas obtained by fracking methods.

CPV is also in the wind and solar energy business. Murphy is also pushing a plan to build up to 3,400 wind turbines off the Jersey Shore, and it remains unknown if the existing or proposed CPV plants would process that wind energy once it comes ashore.

When asked by Patch Thursday, Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac said CPV's decision to withdraw is so new he first only heard of it this week from an NJ.com reporter, which was first to report the news.

"While I haven't heard yet officially, this is OK by us because we got what we wanted out of this entire transaction," said the mayor. "First, we got the entire area cleaned up because of CPV. (That property) was one of the worst contaminated sites in town and one of the worst in the entire region. Secondly, CPV and others made a multi-million investment in a waterfront park in that area, which is almost ready to open. Number three, we are getting a large tax rateable out of this, one way or another. Because of CPV 1 (their existing power plant) we get three million a year in taxes. From CPV 2 (the killed plant) we would have gotten close to that."

McCormac always said he supported the second plant opening, saying it would bring jobs to the area and add electricity to the power grid.

"(That lot) will be redeveloped in some other capacity and we'll still get a bunch of money (taxes) from it," said McCormac. "We're OK with this. We never advocated for the second plant to open from an environmental standpoint; that's not our job; we left that to the state. But we said over and over again we supported its opening as long as the state approved it."

"We are grateful to all those in Woodbridge and the surrounding communities that have supported the CPV Keasbey project over the years and share our vision for increasing the region’s energy sustainability through safe, reliable and environmentally responsible power generation," said CPV spokesman Litchfield. "We look forward to evaluating future opportunities at the site and remaining an active member of the Woodbridge community as we continue to operate the existing CPV Woodbridge Energy Center as one of the cleanest generating facilities in New Jersey and the region."

Prior: NJ Fines Existing Woodbridge Power Plant For Pollution Violations (March 2023)

Stop Woodbridge's 2nd Natural Gas Power Plant, NJ Residents Beg Murphy (March 2023)

Woodbridge Residents Speak For And Against 2nd Natural Gas Power Plant (Feb. 2023)

3 New NJ Power Plants Coming, 2 Will Definitely Use Natural Gas (April 2022)