Power Plant Groundbreaking Rescheduled for Feb. 8

The ceremonial start to West Deptford Energy’s 738-megawatt power plant is back on, set for two weeks from today at the company’s site on Paradise Road.

The groundbreaking was , but was put off after the and the subsequent rescheduling of Gov. Chris Christie’s . Both Christie and state Senate President Stephen Sweeney are expected to be at the ceremony.

County and local officials have been champing at the bit to see several years’ worth of work come to fruition; West Deptford Mayor Ray Chintall said earlier he thinks the plant’s start could be a catalyst to greater economic development in both the township and region.

The plant brings with it an estimated 650 construction jobs and $107 million in payments in lieu of taxes, $96.3 million of which will go to West Deptford, plus about $4.7 million in profit to Gloucester County from the sale of the 302-acre plot to West Deptford Energy.

The land has essentially been vacant for decades, though the remnants of a partially-constructed power plant–a trio of buildings, apparently cooling blocks–sit on its north end. Property sales records show ownership bounced between subsidiaries of two California-based energy companies–Southern California Edison and PG&E–over the last 20 years.

West Deptford Energy and its parent company, LS Power, had been working on the deal to build the plant there for about five years, before .