Marshall Energy Center

A state-of-the-art, two-plant, electric generating station powered by natural gas has been proposed for the city’s industrial park, raising prospects for scores of temporary and permanent jobs as well as expanded reliable energy resources for local business development, local officials say.

“This will give a huge advantage to the entire community, because we’ll be able to attract prospective business developers that require access to affordable and reliable power sources,” said Scott Fleming, CEO of the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance (MAEDA).

White Plains, NY-based Development Partners has been analyzing the site for some time to determine its feasibility for the facility to be called the Marshall Energy Center, Fleming said. As soon as 2021, the facility would comprise two adjacent highly efficient electric generating plants on an undeveloped 75-acre site on the southern end of Brooks Industrial Park, south of current development at the end of Pratt Avenue.

The project was presented to the Marshall City Council at its Sept. 18 meeting, and stems from the combined efforts of MAEDA and the Marshall Local Development Finance Authority to attract the Marshall Energy Center to this location, Fleming said.

Those agencies recently entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Marshall Energy Center. Pending approval of the project at multiple levels of government, ground could be broken on the first of the two generating plants by 2019 and could begin operation by mid-2021, according to Willard Ladd, a principal of Development Partners.

“We have three primary goals in mind in bringing this state-of-the-art facility to Marshall – to offer reliable and affordable power to the area, to produce this power in an environmentally sound way, and to forge a strong partnership with the community where we will operate,” Ladd said.

“We welcome input and comments as we move forward with the planning and approval process for this facility,” he said.

“This will be an electric generating facility fueled by clean-burning natural gas,” Fleming said. “We at MAEDA are working closely with city, county and state officials to ensure that the project proceeds smoothly through the approval process.”

Marshall Energy Center expects to seek the necessary approvals through 2018, hopes to begin construction in 2019 and anticipates the facility to begin operation in mid-2021.

Capital investment for each facility is expected to exceed $400 million, Ladd said, adding that the construction process is expected to create 300 to 500 locally sourced union jobs and operations will create 20 to 25 highly skilled technical positions.

“This will be a very advanced, automated facility,” Ladd said. “It also will need a range of services and suppliers that are expected to create approximately 60 additional indirect jobs in the local area.”

The electric generating station will employ Siemens’ combined-cycle technology that maximizes energy efficiency by capturing the gas turbine electric generator’s waste heat in a boiler creating steam that is used to produce additional electricity, Ladd said. Each of the two electric generating plants is expected to have a production capacity of approximately 500 megawatts, for a total output of 1,000 megawatts.

“This is a highly efficient way to produce electricity – 60 percent efficient, versus conventional plants that are perhaps 30 percent efficient. The flexibility inherent in this base-load technology will also help facilitate renewable energy growth in Michigan.

To fuel the facilities, the Marshall Energy Center is expected to rely on natural gas delivered via the existing Vector and Panhandle natural gas pipelines that cross one-half mile north of the site within the Brooks Industrial Park.

The City of Marshall expects to supply cooling water to the facility from the region’s substantial underground aquifer and plans call for the facility to discharge the majority of its clean non-contact cooling water to a nearby drainage. Other wastewater may be sent to the City of Marshall’s existing wastewater treatment plant, Ladd said.

Development Partners, founded in 2008, has a similar project being completed near New Carlisle in northern Indiana, and Ladd has been involved in other energy infrastructure projects at the Massachusetts communities of Everett and Weymouth, as well as Brampton, Ontario.

“We looked at several other sites in Michigan but finally focused on Marshall for several reasons,” Ladd said. “This is an area where base-load generation is needed and it has access to existing natural gas pipelines with supplies coming from different regions of North America,” he added.

“When you look at the location of the current electric generating stations in Michigan in relation to where the electricity is being used in the state, this area is underserved with generation,” Ladd said. “While in other parts of Michigan electric loads are declining, this area of the state is experiencing stable if not increasing electric demand with new businesses coming into the area.

“Local base-load generation provides stability and reliability to the electric grid, which is important with today’s electronics in the home and business and will help facilitate renewable energy growth in Michigan by providing electric grid support where it is needed,” Ladd said.

“This project offers significant positive prospects for the city and region,” Fleming said. “It’s an exciting prospect that offers many potential benefits for the community.”