In August, Ohio Gov. John Kasich officiated at a ceremony to launch a new Utica gas-fired electric generating plant in Oregon (Lucas County), near Toledo (see New 870 MW Gas-Fired Electric Plant in NW Ohio Begins Operation). CME Energy’s Oregon Clean Energy Center plant generates 870 megawatts of electricity. The plant cost $900 million to build. What we haven’t focused on, until now, is CME’s proposal to build a second Utica gas-fired electric plant next to the first one. The first plant is called Oregon Clean Energy Center. The second plant project is named Clean Energy Future – Oregon. The second plant is bigger than the first, targeted to generate 955 megawatts of power. Clean Energy Future – Oregon is currently in the permitting process. If all goes well, CME plans to begin commercial operation in 2020. Fluor Corporation is constructing this second project, as they did the first. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year. The reason the project appeared on our radar screen is because yesterday the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) gave Clean Energy Future – Oregon a big, fat, sloppy kiss of approval…
