Drew Dixon
A new natural gas power plant is coming to Jacksonville after the JEA Board of Directors voted to build a combined-cycle natural gas plant.
The new facility will be constructed on the site of an old JEA location known as the St. Johns River Power Park on Jacksonville’s North Side. Vickie Cavey, the JEA CEO and Managing Director, will oversee the development of the natural gas operations.
Cavey will be in charge of the negotiations to finalize the project with GE Vernova. The company is an offshoot of General Electric and builds combined-cycle power plants. Combined cycle means the facility will use energy generated by both natural gas and steam turbines. GE Vernova officials say that process produces 50% more electricity from the same amount of fuel.
The JEA Board’s approval calls for up to $1.57 billion to be spent on the project. The new plant will allow for more energy growth in North Florida, according to JEA officials.
“We have to be able to deliver reliable energy to everyone, all JEA customers. The risk is unacceptable if we punt combined cycle down the road. My personal view is that the risk isn’t worth it,” said JEA Board Chair Joseph DiSalvo.
The new plant could generate up to 675 megawatts of power. That amount of energy would cover up to 300,000 households in the First Coast region.
The St. Johns River Power Park is within eyeshot of the actual river and was the site of a coal-fired energy plant for decades before that operation was terminated several years ago. The smokestacks at that plant were demolished in 2016. But several elements of infrastructure remain operational at the location off Heckscher Drive near the Blount Island military and industrial shipping port installations.
The new natural gas combined facility will be a companion to a similar plant already in operation in the western area of Jacksonville near Baldwin called the Brandy Branch Generating Station, which is currently JEA’s only combined-cycle plant.
