The Lansing Board of Water and Light is announcing its biggest-ever project. The utility will build a new natural gas plant in Delta Township.
At a price tag of $500 million, the gas-fired plant will replace the BWL’s 44-year old Erickson Power Station, which is coal-burning. The new facility will also help expedite the retirement of the Eckert Station, the utility’s nearly century old giant that produces about a third of its output.
Lansing Board of Water and Light CEO Dick Peffley says the natural gas plant will help the region achieve energy independence.
“We want to be the first major utility to be off coal, and we’re going to be coal-free by 2025,” says Peffley. “ So, we need to find some way to bridge the gap between coal and 100-percent renewables.”
When the plant is completed in 2021, BWL will relocate a warehouse and maintenance department to a former GM plant site on Lansing’s west side.