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The $11 million project would populate a desolate portion of the Navy Yard with a gleaming army of photovoltaic cells collecting enough energy from the sun to power about 200 households for a year.
It is the second such project driven by a collaboration of Peco's parent, Exelon Corp., and Epuron L.L.C., a subsidiary of the German energy company Conergy AG. Ground was broken last month for their first project, a $20 million solar-power station in Bucks County.
At the announcement of the Philadelphia project yesterday, Kathleen A. McGinty, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said many more such efforts would be possible if Rendell's proposal to create an $850 million alternative-energy fund were passed by the state Senate.
The measure would have the state issue bonds to raise the $850 million to provide grants and loans to support commercial and residential alternative-energy projects, such as solar and wind power. The state would use a portion of a gross-receipts tax it collects from utility companies to pay off the bonds.
"I really don't know what or who the opposition is," McGinty said in an interview. "We feel like we're shadowboxing. . . . We'd love to make a deal."
Reached minutes later in their Harrisburg offices, opponents of the bill said yesterday that they were awaiting the governor's call.
"If Secretary McGinty wants to make a deal, she should be in Harrisburg, talking to us," said Patrick Henderson, a spokesman for State Sen. Mary Jo White (R., Venango), chairwoman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
White last year offered a competing bill, which called for a $650 million fund for which only $250 million would be borrowed. The rest would accumulate gradually from the gross-receipts tax.
That fund also would distribute alternative-energy loans and grants more gradually than Rendell's plan.
Rendell's bill, which passed the House, now awaits attention in the Senate, while White's bill, which was passed in the Senate, awaits attention in the House.
Meanwhile, energy companies are moving forward on a handful of alternative-power projects without significant state investment.
Epuron's regional director in Philadelphia, John Conley, said in an interview that the station would generate 1.0 to 1.4 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 200 households for a year.
Because of solar power's reliance on sunlight, Conley said, the station's generating capacity is computed by a formula that takes into account typical weather patterns in the region.
Conley declined to discuss the cost of the project, but an industry standard of $6 million to $7 million per megawatt would put the price tag as high as $11.9 million.
The $20 million Bucks plant, in Falls Township, will be able to provide energy for up to 400 homes under the same formula. Construction of that plant is expected to continue through late summer or early fall, Conley said.
Exelon has agreed to buy electricity generated by the Navy Yard plant for 20 years. Epuron will design, build and manage the facility, which is to be sited on Girard Point, just north of the Aker Shipyard.
"With Pennsylvania's vast land resources, there is big potential to do large-scale projects in the state," Conley said.
Epuron, which has its U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, also plans to build a slightly smaller 700-kilowatt plant near the Meadowlands Sports Complex in northern New Jersey, Conley said.
Besides the recent solar agreements with Epuron, Exelon's renewable-energy-supply portfolio also includes four wind projects totaling 154 megawatts.
Though alternative-energy companies are investing in modest projects without government support, many of them would welcome such help if it were available.
"The Senate in Harrisburg has to understand that green-energy plants are the future," said Arndt Lutz, Epuron's managing director. "Their reluctance is hindering that development."
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