Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Susan Holecheck, mayor of Mesquite, Nev.; and Tony James, president and chief operating officer of The Blackstone Group, have announced plans to build a natural gas plant at the Toquop site near Mesquite.
Sithe Global Power, the Blackstone Group's portfolio company, had planned to build a coal-fired power plant at the Toquop site, but has abandoned that idea and returned to their original plan to build a natural gas plant, according to Reid's office. When construction of the plant begins, it will take three years, cost $1.4 billion and create as many as 1,000 jobs.
The project will incorporate a 700 MW natural gas plant with a 50 MW-100 MW solar photovoltaic plant, the New York Times reports.
In early 2009, three proposals for new coal-burning power plants in
Nevada, which would have generated 4,850 MW of electricity, were still under consideration in Nevada, notes Western Resources Advocates. Toquop was the last of the three coal plants still scheduled to be built.
SOURCES: Office Of Sen. Harry Reid, New York Times, Western Resource Advocates
