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New gas-fired power plant for Tontitown

KJW

By KJW
in Northwest Arkansas

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itk Hamlet

itk

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And guess where that plant in Tontitown is going to go?

Answer: right in the way of the 412 Springdale Bypass.

So obviously the bypass will have to go around it. I don't know if that's going to be a big deal or not (not sure if anyone knows yet). Which 99.9% likely will drive up the cost even further for the bypass.

Which is why AHTD is trying to buy the ROW ASAP... before someone else decides to build something like that in the way. Fun stuff.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Although it's nice to get a new power plant because I think the area is going to really need one soon with all the growth going on. But it does really suck that it's going to cause a problem like this. Of course I'm not sure if there are a lot of available sites for something like this. It's going to be powered on natural gas. A bit of a change for Swepco. Almost all their plants are coal powered. The natural gas powered plant will have less pollution but it's also going to mean more expensive bills.

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itk Hamlet

itk

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Glad to see everyone involved is on the same page! :blink:

No kidding!

Although, true, NWA could use one I bet. Though I wonder why they would put it in that particular location instead of further away from the core growth of NWA. I can see sprawl getting out that far in our lifetime (there's already some low-density rural-type subdivisions near there)... now I wonder how that might affect land use.

With that and the landfill in Tontitown, sprawl in NWA might "ooze" around Tontitown, which might just be predominately industrial (as I think it is now) as it grows.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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No kidding!

Although, true, NWA could use one I bet. Though I wonder why they would put it in that particular location instead of further away from the core growth of NWA. I can see sprawl getting out that far in our lifetime (there's already some low-density rural-type subdivisions near there)... now I wonder how that might affect land use.

With that and the landfill in Tontitown, sprawl in NWA might "ooze" around Tontitown, which might just be predominately industrial (as I think it is now) as it grows.

I also agree, it seems a bit of an odd spot. There's a coal powered plant somewhere around Gentry or Gravette I think. I don't know but I'm assuming that's Swepco. From what I read it sounds like they only have one plant in Arkansas. I know they service western Arkansas. Not sure how far their range is inside the state.

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masons_dad1 Town

masons_dad1

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Interesting. Tontitown is a strange area to me... I don't think I quite understand how became like it is, but I guess it's good that they're planning for the future power needs of this area.

"The company projects a 400-megawatt deficiency by 2007, when the Tontitown facility will begin producing power. SWEPCO predicts it will be about 1, 000 megawatts over capacity in 2011, not including the new plants in Shreveport and Tontitown."

Planning? What planning? This is them trying to catch up with demand that has already surpassed their ability to meet that demand.

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KJW Burg

KJW

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"The company projects a 400-megawatt deficiency by 2007, when the Tontitown facility will begin producing power. SWEPCO predicts it will be about 1, 000 megawatts over capacity in 2011, not including the new plants in Shreveport and Tontitown."

Planning? What planning? This is them trying to catch up with demand that has already surpassed their ability to meet that demand.

Here's SWEPCO's service territory.

Masons...yes, this almost sounds more like "crisis management" than planning, much like our highway development locally due to the incredible growth.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Here's SWEPCO's service territory.

Masons...yes, this almost sounds more like "crisis management" than planning, much like our highway development locally due to the incredible growth.

Thanks for the map. Never thought of trying to look up Swepco. Looks pretty thin around Ft Smith. Although I was thinking that Swepco isn't too big there.

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edensfall Whistle-Stop

edensfall

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it says that swepco has 439,000 customers in its service area, we have over three fourths of that number in nwa alone, that doesnt look too accurate, especially with fort smith, both texarkanas and the louisiana metros

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jdevers Whistle-Stop

jdevers

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it says that swepco has 439,000 customers in its service area, we have over three fourths of that number in nwa alone, that doesnt look too accurate, especially with fort smith, both texarkanas and the louisiana metros

Only about half of NWA is serviced by SwepCo, the other half is serviced by Ozark Electric Co-Op, which from SwepCo's perspective is just one big customer.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Sounds like the plant will pretty much just be operating during peak periods of energy use. Which basically means in the summertime. Although as this area continues to grow it will be nice to have a plant that can pick up some extra using from future growth.

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itk Hamlet

itk

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I'm curious how long ago was the road path decided? Also seems like Swepco would have known that this could be a potential problem and have planned for another location.

Technically it was decided last spring when the environmental document was approved by FHWA. To my understanding, SWEPCO had already chosen the site for the power plant, but after AHTD had decided on an proposed alignment for finalization (if that makes any sense).

Basically, a preferred alignment was chosen and the environmental documentation had to be finalized, and I think sometime in there SWEPCO made their decision. That's unfortunate, but without seeing it's exact proposed location I'm not sure if it's going to result in moving the alignment that much (I haven't heard anything about it yet). Now that the bypass alignment is finalized and anyone who has designs on land out there should know where it is, and shouldn't build in its way.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Technically it was decided last spring when the environmental document was approved by FHWA. To my understanding, SWEPCO had already chosen the site for the power plant, but after AHTD had decided on an proposed alignment for finalization (if that makes any sense).

Basically, a preferred alignment was chosen and the environmental documentation had to be finalized, and I think sometime in there SWEPCO made their decision. That's unfortunate, but without seeing it's exact proposed location I'm not sure if it's going to result in moving the alignment that much (I haven't heard anything about it yet). Now that the bypass alignment is finalized and anyone who has designs on land out there should know where it is, and shouldn't build in its way.

I'd still would have thought if you were going to put a new plant in a potential bypass area you might consider the road might go through your area and that you'd have a backup plan. Can I assume that the road takes priority in this? Is it possible to move the road again? Although I'm sure that would cause problems as well. People have probably assumed this was final and bought land or thought their home was going to be safe.

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itk Hamlet

itk

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I'd still would have thought if you were going to put a new plant in a potential bypass area you might consider the road might go through your area and that you'd have a backup plan. Can I assume that the road takes priority in this? Is it possible to move the road again? Although I'm sure that would cause problems as well. People have probably assumed this was final and bought land or thought their home was going to be safe.

You have to wonder what SWEPCO was thinking... or maybe they weren't thinking. But there is no law saying they can't build it there before the bypass. Anybody can build in the way of the bypass today, but the question is will AHTD buy it and tear it down to build the bypass? Not this power plant. Buying the plant and tearing it down would cost more than building around it.

If moving the alignment to avoid the plant is significant enough that it would impact people's property, environment, etc., then I think it might have to go through NEPA again. But design work is starting real soon on the bypass. I wouldn't be surprised if some negotiations or talks between SWEPCO and AHTD take place in the near future to get the details ironed out. We'll see soon.

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