Evidence indicates that the proposed Invenergy fossil fuel plant is unnecessary, as explained in this ecoRI article.
One of Invenergy’s principal reasons for the project appears to have been undercut. The energy company has said a new plant is necessary to meet the growing demand for energy in the region and to fill the energy void created by the retirement of some area power plants. According to the legal advocacy group the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), however, this argument was debunked in early February when a regional auction for the power purchased half of Clear River Energy Center’s expected output.
“The bottom line is very, very simple: the Invenergy plant is just not needed for system reliability. It is not needed to keep the lights on,” Jerry Elmer, senior attorney for CLF, wrote in a recent blog post. “Rhode Island, Southeastern New England, and all of New England have a surplus of generation capacity without Invenergy’s proposed plant.”