Site of Wood River Coal Plant Sold to Company That Specializes in Demo Projects
Date Posted: October 8, 2019
Posted In: News,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A small, private St. Louis company has purchased the coal-fired Wood River power plant here, which closed in 2016, and is working to clean up the site and repurpose it — a possible blueprint for many coal plant turnarounds to come.
Commercial Liability Partners purchased the site last month, and has not released a sale price nor details about future uses.
“The first step in what’s going to be a pretty darn long process was just the acquisition of the site,” said Tony Zagora, a partner at the public relations firm FleishmanHillard, speaking on behalf of Commercial Liability Partners, which he described as “a pretty small company.”
“I think those are questions that they will be able to answer over time,” he added.
The Wood River facility, which was run by the Houston firm Dynegy, is far from the region’s only site where coal-fired generators face an uncertain future. Dynegy, which was acquired by Texas-based Vistra Energy Corp. in 2017, said earlier this year that 75% of its coal-fired generation across its downstate Illinois fleet is “at risk of being shut down.”
Four of those coal plants are closing later this year, the company said.
Vistra has sought to convert some into facilities for solar power and energy storage projects.
Company executives and city officials alike say the riverfront site offers a host of selling points — access to highways, airports and the river.
“It just makes sense to put something there,” said Randy Nelson, the treasurer for the village of East Alton. “Just from an infrastructure perspective, it’s a great spot.”
Plus, power plants have plenty of connectivity and electric transmission access, a coveted resource for facilities that produce or demand lots of energy.