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BETHLEHEM -- Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., owner of New Jersey's largest utility, plans to bring a $500 million power plant south of Albany into commercial operation within the next week.
The 750-megawatt plant doesn't have contracts for its output and will need to sell the power in the wholesale market, said Neil Brown, a spokesman for Newark, N.J.-based PSEG.
Paul Flemming, senior analyst at Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Wakefield, Mass., said that scenario "could be challenging for them because the region has ample generation."
Opportunities to export power to New York City, 150 miles to the south, will be reduced in the next year as two new plants enter service in the city, he said.
Brown said long-term prospects for the plant will improve as power supplies tighten.
Today, PSEG representatives, elected officials, and various environmental and health groups that supported the natural-gas-fired plant are slated to attend a dedication ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Known as the Bethlehem Energy Center, it will produce enough power to supply about 600,000 average U.S. homes, based on U.S. Energy Department estimates.
The plant on Route 144 is the site of the former 385-megawatt Albany Steam Station, which PSEG purchased from Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. in 2000. The Albany Steam Station, which was fueled by oil, was built in 1952 and was retired by PSEG in February, Brown said.
PSEG has one other power plant under construction, a $1 billion facility in Linden, N.J., that will enter service in mid-2006. Brown said the 1,200-megawatt plant would replace an existing 478-megawatt unit that opened in 1957.
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