Zion has been targeted for a second peaker power plant, the fourth such proposal of its kind in Lake County in recent months.
Carlton Inc., an independent power company based in Wilmette, has filed an application with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to build a 330- to 400-megawatt peaker power station at a cost of $100 million in unincorporated Newport Township.
Skygen Energy LLC of Northbrook late last year proposed a 750-megawatt peaker power station at a cost of $200 million on a 114-acre site.
The two plants would be on opposite sides of 9th Street near Green Bay Road. Carlton also is seeking annexation of its 43-acre parcel by the City of Zion.
Peaker plants operate periodically during peak power demand, producing electricity with natural gas-fired turbines.
City officials have scheduled a public hearing on the proposal Tuesday in City Hall.
“Carlton will be making a presentation on their proposal,” said Peter Cioni, Zion’s director of community development. Carlton’s annexation application was on the City Council agenda Dec. 21.
“There were some residents who came to the council meeting asking questions,” Cioni said. “The council decided, before they would act on it, to have a public meeting and allow residents to hear what the proposal would be and answer questions or make comments.”
John Notch, Carlton’s owner and president, said he filed an air-pollution application with the Illinois EPA several weeks ago.
“Zion is one of the best areas in the entire Commonwealth Edison system to be connecting a peaker, in terms of the shortage of generation on the Commonwealth Edison system,” Notch said.
Closing the Zion Nuclear Power plant, he said, left a 2,200-megawatt gap in power demand in northern Illinois.
The 9th Street site also is ideal, he added, because the three-turbine power plant would be in an industrial area near the North Shore Sanitary District waste landfill.
“For residents of Zion, there is not anyone who lives close to the place,” he said. “There is a lot of buffer space between us and residential use. We’re totally surrounded by industrial property.”
But Susan Zingle, executive director of the Lake County Conservation Alliance, called the Carlton proposal “appalling.”
“Zion really needs to consider its position on these plants,” Zingle said. “If we are concerned about pollution from the Skygen plant, having a 300-megawatt plant immediately adjacent to it is not acceptable.”
Environmentalists worry about air pollution from the plants and water consumption. Peaker plants also have been proposed for Libertyville and North Chicago.
Asked if Zion was prepared to have two peaker power plants, Cioni said, “We don’t have a first yet.” Neither Skygen nor Carlton has filed for a city permit, he added.
“It’s possible, I suppose,” to have two plants, he said. “What the market would bear, I have no idea. Nobody knows exactly what will happen under the deregulated market. Carlton is aware of what Skygen is doing, and Skygen is aware of what Carlton is doing. They are forging ahead with their plans.”
State and federal governments are deregulating the electric-power industry to open the way for competition and potentially lower power costs to consumers.
Power produced by the plants would go to major utilities such as ComEd for use locally or elsewhere, or it could be sold directly to local consumers.
Zion, Cioni said, is interested in new tax revenues. The plants are not expected to generate much new employment, he said.
Notch said he is working on other power proposals in northern Illinois.
“My role is to get them started and introduce them to larger development companies, which provide the capital to get them built,” he said.
