Central Iowa Power Cooperative wants to build a $400 million natural gas power plant in rural Scott County.
The proposed 240 megawatt natural gas-fired electric generation facility, which still must go through state and local approval processes, would generate power for Central Iowa Power Cooperative’s 13 member-owned rural electric cooperatives and associations across the state.
One of its members, REC Eastern Iowa Light and Power Cooperative, serves a patchwork of rural Scott County residents.
CIPCO chose Scott County because of its location at intersections of electrical transmission lines and CIPCO’s natural gas pipelines. The new power plant, CIPCO leaders say, would be used during times of peak energy demand, not around the clock.
Maysville residents raise questions, concerns
Residents who live near the proposed site, however, are wary.
Several dozen residents filled nearly every folding chair set up in the Maysville Fire Department and Community Center for a county Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Tuesday to question and express concerns to the commission and CIPCO leaders.
Residents raised questions and concerns about how the plant would impact the local environment and urged Scott County appointed and elected leaders to protect prime agricultural ground from industrial encroachment.
Pam Golinghorst, of Maysville, submitted a petition to county officials opposing the plant with 279 signatures.
Golinghorst said Scott County residents strongly oppose allowing CIPCO to build a natural gas power plant in Hickory Grove Township.
“Key concerns include the plant primarily benefits CIPCO member cooperatives, not local residents, no clear evidence of local energy prioritization, economic benefit or environmental safeguards have been presented,” Golinghorst told commissioners Tuesday in Maysville. “… The goal overall — protect transparency, protect agricultural land, and prioritize the community welfare before any decision is made.”
CIPCO says plant is for times of peak energy demand
CIPCO leaders attending the meeting said the plant would send electricity to the grid for its members, one of which does serve Scott County residents, and that electricity typically flows to where it’s needed at the closest locations first.
CIPCO gets about 41% of its annual energy from wind energy, 7.5% from solar, 26.3% from coal, and 2.3% from natural gas, according to a fact sheet provided by the co-op. About 3% of its power comes from hydro and landfill gas and about 19% comes from other purchases and from non-CIPCO contracted or produced sources on the market.
Asked why the power plant is needed, CEO of CIPCO Andrew St. John said utilities must plan for decades into the future, and coal is expected to decline as an energy source. Natural gas, St. John said, is a substitute that can quickly generate power when the sun isn’t shining or wind isn’t blowing.
“We kind of talk about it like this — if you’re building a new church, you build it for Christmas and Easter, but there’s a lot of weekends that it’s not always full,” St. John said. “So, the reality is, that’s how we look at the electric grid, and right now, what we need is dispatchable, supplemental power that will run, we’ve quoted, 15% to 20% of the time. This plant’s only going to be used when we need it.”
CIPCO says the plant could result in 200 construction jobs and bring five to seven permanent jobs to operate and maintain the generation plant.
Another concern raised by residents was about water discharge.
CIPCO leaders said the proposed plant would be a closed-loop water system, so heated water would not be released to area streams. According to CIPCO annual water usage would be the same as about 8-10 average households.
Planning and Zoning Commissioner Joan Maxwell asked CIPCO leaders whether the plant was being built because Meta has proposed building a data center in Davenport. Data centers, which are popping up to power artificial intelligence, typically require lots of water and electricity to run and cool its systems.
St. John said no; CIPCO has no plans to power a data center, which he said is not in their coverage area.
CIPCO leaders, he said, did not know about the proposed data center until after they decided to pursue the natural gas power plant in Scott County.
What is the approval process for the proposed plant?
The plant is still at the early stages of consideration by local and state governing authorities.
Before CIPCO can submit a plan for a specific site, it needed to apply for a change to Scott County’s ordinances to add “thermal electric energy generation facility” to the list of uses for special-use permits. Previously, Scott County code did not address whether natural gas power plants were allowed in the county.
The planning and zoning board at its meeting last week approved the change to Scott County ordinances to allow for a power plant that converts heat into electrical energy and set requirements a facility must meet.
Next, the Board of Supervisors will consider and vote on the ordinance, most likely at its upcoming meetings Oct. 21 and 23.
CIPCO would then have to apply for the special-use permit with a site plan, which would be considered by the planning and zoning board and zoning board of adjustment.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Iowa Utility Commission will also evaluate the project for approval.
Residents raise questions about farm ground
In 2022, Scott County passed an ordinance creating a floating zoning district for utility solar.
The ordinance restricted utility-scale solar to farms with ground only with a corn suitability rating below 60. County staff estimated about 16% of unincorporated Scott County would be eligible. Scott County was the first county to restrict solar panels based on the productivity of the land.
Residents on Tuesday questioned why Scott County would restrict solar to poor farm ground, but not the natural gas power plant.
Scott County Planning and Development Director Greg Schaapveld said utility solar takes up much land than other proposed land-uses.
The proposed natural gas plant is estimated to have a 30-acre footprint on a purchased 80-acre plot of land.
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Sarah Watson
Davenport, Scott County, local politics
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