San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp. announced Monday it has boughtthe rights to build, own and operate a $510 million, 850 MW naturalgas-fired electric generating plant along the Ohio River inHamilton Township, Lawrence County, OH. The plant, called theLawrence Energy Center, is targeted for starting operations in2004.

Calpine said it bought the plant rights from Hanging Rock EnergyProject, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of a Boston-based firm thathad started the preliminary development efforts for the project.The proposed plant, which will be designed so it can providepeak-demand capacity up to 1,100 MW and 850 MW on a baseload basis,will interconnect with Columbus, OH-based American Electric Powerat its Hanging Rock substation, from which the plant could sellinto four or five regional markets, including Ontario, Canada.

The Lawrence project is Calpine’s second in Ohio; it iscurrently seeking state siting approval for a proposed 540 MWgenerating plant, the Fremont Energy Center, in Sandusky Twp. Todate, Calpine, which announced several purchases and projects inseveral states last week, now has about 26,800 MW of baseloadcapacity and 5,100 MW of peaking capacity in operation, underconstruction or announced development in 27 states and Alberta,Canada.

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