Plant will be built here
DOVER – Construction has officially begun on the almost $1.6 billion Advance Power company Cricket Valley Energy project in Eastern Dutchess County’s Town of Dover.
Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony brought elected officials, business and trade leaders, along with company executives together at the 193 acre site on Route 22 to celebrate a project that, according to Dover Town Supervisor Linda French, has been nine years in the making.
Advance Power’s CEO Thomas Spang noted the facility will employ the latest technology available.
“Powered by General Electric equipment, this facility’s state-of-the-art turbines highly efficient combined cycle technology will produce enough electricity to power more than one million homes in the Hudson Valley meeting stringent federal and state safety, air and water regulations,” Spang said.
During her remarks, Town Supervisor Linda French vividly recalled the first meeting with representatives from Cricket Valley Energy, then Dover Town Supervisor Ryan Courtien, herself, and a few members of the community. At the time, she said the town was on life support having suffered from the closure of the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center made worse by the recession that further depressed the local economy.
French was pleased to announce that this project will revitalize Dover into a thriving municipality on the Route 22 corridor.
The Cricket Valley Energy Center is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2020. The project is expected to move at a rapid pace due to the existence of an energy infrastructure, including the existence of high capacity power lines and the Iroquois gas pipeline. The 1,100-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant, according to company executives will be one of the cleanest energy producing plants in the country.
The economic impact of the project has not gone unnoticed by local officials. The project’s annual tax payment is estimated to be $3.3 million, escalating to approximately $7.9 million which will be spread among the school district, town, county, and state.
Dutchess County Clerk Brad Kendall, a Dover resident, was on hand for the event. According to Kendall, there is potential for a substantial reduction in property tax bills for property owners in Dover.
The project will create 1,100 jobs during peak construction along with 80 permanent and indirect jobs once the plant is operational.
