Crawfordsville power plant sold after 6 years of sitting idle

After six years of sitting dormant, the Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power plant was sold today to Sterling Energy Group, Inc. two days before the city planned to decommission it.

The group intends to use the plant for clean coal technologies , including combined cycle gas-fired capacity and adding a steam loop to make the energy complex a combined heat and power facility , according to a press release form the city of Crawfordsville.

The city put the plant on the market two years ago for about $900,000. Monday they sold it for $155,000.

“We settled on that number to close out,” Mayor Todd Barton said. “Some people may be concerned and think ‘wow, they let this guy steal it,’ but it would cost $5-to-$6 million to decommission it ourselves.”

Since 2007, the city has incurred the cost to maintain the plant rounding out at about $1 million per year on top of purchasing power through the Indiana Municipal Power Agency.

Old technology and the ever-changing environmental regulations have made production and competitive pricing impossible for the plant, said Barton and Phil Goode, manager of Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power.

Barton said it will cost between $10 million and $14 million to bring the plant up to regulation standards, an investment the city simply cannot afford.

“Sterling Energy Group, Inc., targeted this plant because it meets a lot of their needs,” Barton said. “They will use clean-coal technology that will combine coal with natural gas to keep emission down below requirements.”

Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power began producing electricity in 1890 and operating a plant since 1930.