Thomas Bjurlof who is consultant on energy management and regulatory issues for companies doing business around the world wrote an opinion piece weighing the difference in costs between repowering old power plants versus building brand new ones. One of his arguments is based on "opportunity costs" that must be factored into this type of decision.
Bjurlof who is a member of the Mayor’s Energy Task Force in Port Jefferson, says that "opportunity cost” are "a widely accepted economic principle that considers what will be precluded by making one decision rather than another." He concludes that when considering this cost, the "weight the scales in favor of repowering."
"It makes far more sense to propose a new power plant in a community that has already hosted one for the past 50 years than to create new incentives to coax other communities into hosting a new plant," he said.
He compares the case of Port Jefferson to what happened with Caithness, a power plant privately built in Yaphank that sells power to LIPA.
Read the full opinion piece on Port Jefferson village's website: Thomas Bjurlof: Repowering plants better for all.
