Decker Energy has broad experience in all aspects of the development of natural gas and solid fuel power projects.  We have developed 10 greenfield facilities which have come to fruition.  These projects are a diverse mix which are located in several states and total 800 megawatts of generating capacity.

Decker Energy has 4 biomass projects in advanced development: Plainfield Renewable Energy in Connecticut, Hertford Renewable Energy in North Carolina, Fitzgerald Renewable Energy in Georgia and Lindale Renewable Energy in Texas. This map displays all past, present and future Decker Energy project locations.

The development process involves many different elements which must be completed to create a successful project:

• Conceptualization
• Site selection
• Land purchase or lease
• Local approvals
• Environmental permitting
• Power sales
• Electrical interconnection
• Thermal energy sales (if any)
• Fuel supply
• Fuel transportation
• Water supply
• Wastewater disposal
• Ash disposal (if applicable)
• Project financing
• Engineering, procurement and construction
• Operation and maintenance
  

Power project development requires a delicate weighing of technical, economic and political factors.   Decker Energy has the experience to orchestrate the development process by carefully balancing of the competing needs of these various project elements.

In recent years we have been focusing on the development of biomass power projects. We are also evaluating other renewable energy technologies.

Biomass  Biomass power facilities convert biomass materials, such as wood chips, logging residues, sawdust, and urban wood waste, into valuable electricity.  Our biomass projects typically burn the byproducts of other operations, such as paper mills, board mills, sawmills or logging companies.  Few trees are cut down specifically to fuel our plants.

Biomass energy has many advantages.  It is a renewable resource, minimizing consumption of finite fossil fuels.  It is clean, containing very little sulfur or other pollutants found in most solid fuels.  It is very reliable, providing valuable firm generating capacity, as compared to the intermittent energy supplied by most other renewable energy technologies.  As a locally-produced resource, the region around the plant directly benefits from dollars spent on fuel production and transportation and the associated employment.

The United States badly needs more renewable sources of energy to reduce our dangerous dependence on finite fossil fuel resources, which often come from hostile foreign countries.  Biomass will play a big part in this vital transition to a more sustainable energy future.

Natural Gas  Natural gas-fired power generation is widely favored by the environmental community because of its minimal effect on air quality.  Our new gas-fired facilities utilize advanced combustion turbine generating technology operating in simple cycle or combined cycle mode.  They use clean natural gas fuel and employ state of the art control equipment, resulting in air quality impacts that are only a small fraction of existing power plants.

Natural gas-fired power plants are an attractive addition to many communities.  They create many local benefits, including steady, good-paying jobs and large property tax revenues to support schools and other governmental services.  These facilities fit harmoniously into their surroundings with little impact on the local area, since they are small in size.

A good example of our project development experience is Renaissance Power, a 776 MW natural gas-fired plant in Carson City, Michigan.  In 1999 we identified a large need for clean new generating capacity in Michigan.  We determined that a natural gas-fired project would best fit the market needs.  We then searched the state for attractive locations, specifically sites which were at or near the intersection of major electric transmission lines and large natural gas pipelines.  In addition to having these attributes, the Carson City site was also in a Renaissance Zone, which are areas established by the State of Michigan to attract new businesses by offering a 12-year break from property taxes.  Because Michigan has very high property taxes, this feature created a significant competitive advantage compared to other projects.  We negotiated a site option/purchase agreement with a local landowner.  We worked with local government to secure local zoning and land use approvals, including participation in a number of public meetings.  We negotiated an attractive gas transportation agreement with MichCon in which payments were primarily based on gas usage and fixed payments were small, as fit with the economics of a peaking facility.  We negotiated an agreement with Consumers Energy to interconnect with their 345 kV transmission system.  We obtained the required environmental permits, including an air permit, well water withdrawal permit, and stormwater permit.  As development neared completion, we negotiated an agreement to sell the project to Dynegy, Inc., which was uniquely situated to own this project because of their power and gas marketing operations and their large presence in the Midwest.  Construction began in June 2001, and the facility entered commercial operation in June 2002.