Power plant plan is revived

A Swiss energy firm, working with local developers, has revived a long-dormant plan for a gas-fired power plant in Brockton's Campello section that would supply enough electricity for nearly a quarter-million homes.

The $200 million, 350-megawatt plant would be built in an industrial park on Oak Hill Way, next to the city's sewage treatment plant. The site is near an electric line connected to the New England power grid and is also close to a natural gas pipeline that would supply fuel to the plant.

"Brockton is one of the best available sites in New England," said Ron Kelly, managing developer for Advanced Power Services, a Boston subsidiary of Swiss-based Advanced Power AG.

The developers say the plant would create 250 construction jobs, 20 to 25 permanent jobs, and pay more than $1 million a year in taxes, making it the city's largest taxpayer.

Mayor James E. Harrington has voiced cautious support for the plant, and the city's public-private development agency, the Brockton 21st Century Corp., has endorsed the project.

But Councilor Paul Studenski of Ward 4 said he is not ready to take a position on the plant yet.

While the plant would be in an industrial area, there are densely populated neighborhoods in the south end of Brockton, as well as a mobile home park in West Bridgewater.

At an information session last week at the Davis Elementary School, residents voiced fears of noise, air pollution, and other possible hazards linked to the plant. About 60 residents attended the meeting.

"You are in a big city with a lot of people," said Loretta Murray, a Campello resident. "You have two schools. You have a high-rise. You have a trailer park. You would never be able to evacuate this area if something happened."

The plant's developers said the facility will be safe and unobtrusive. They pointed out that gas-fired power plants are located in urban areas elsewhere in New England and around the world.

"The technology is proven," said Ray Racine, an engineer for the developers. "It is clean, and it's safe."

First proposed by a Brockton-area development team in the late 1990s, the plant received state, federal, and local approvals seven years ago.

When the market for new power plants slumped in the midst of an economic downturn early in this decade, the project failed to move off the drawing board, and all permits expired.

Advanced Power Services, which has offices in London and Boston, would own and operate the plant. The company, backed by the German firm Siemens Financial Services, is looking to expand in the northeastern United States, and the Brockton plant would be the company's first in this country.

Shepherding the project through regulatory agencies is a local firm, Corporate Realty Associates, headed by George Baldwin, a prominent Brockton businessman. Baldwin is a member and former chairman of the board of directors of the 21st Century Corp.

The project's proponents estimate it will take two years to gain the needed permits and build the plant.

The project is one of about two dozen power plant proposals initiated in New England in the past year. With fears mounting over possibly inadequate electricity supply in coming years, overseers of the regional power grid and state and federal regulators have established new incentives for plant construction.

Other power plants are in the planning stage in Braintree, Taunton, Chelsea, and Billerica.

"The Brockton plant is the tip of an iceberg," said David L. O'Connor, the state's commissioner of energy resources.

The Brockton plant would provide enough electricity to supply about 230,000 homes.

The power would be transmitted to the grid that supplies New England.

The developers plan to use water processed by the city sewage treatment plant to cool the electric plant. The water, which now is dumped into the Salisbury River, would be given additional treatment before it is used in the power plant, accord ing to the developers.

The project needs approval from the state Energy Facilities Siting Board and the Department of Environmental Protection.

It also could face scrutiny from regulators for emissions of greenhouse gases.

While natural gas plants release fewer greenhouse gases than oil or coal plants, they do produce some, and state and federal agencies are looking for ways to curb the emissions.

Robert Preer can be reached at preer@globe.com.