By Ben Appiah
Could reopening an aging industrial site help meet the energy needs of Delaware? Or would it just exacerbate the underlying issues facing the First State’s power grid needs?
Since 1957, the Indian River Power Plant had acted as Delaware’s solitary coal plant used to meet everyday power demand, providing approximately 780 megawatts of energy; though we have more than 7 other large power plants currently operating in Delaware. Owned by parent company NRG Energy Inc., the Millsboro coal-fired plant placed its first two units into service in 1957 and 1959 respectively. Unit 3 opened in 1970 and the largest, Unit 4, came online in 1980 at 445 MW of capacity. Units 1-3 closed in 2013, with the final unit shutting its doors in February 2025. NRG cited economic losses as the reason for closing the site, noting that coal has become a more expensive energy source relative to natural gas and renewables. Despite what has been claimed by some online, according to an NRG spokesman, the state took no action that caused the closure of the Indian River Power Plant, nor was the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative a deciding factor. There still remains a peak load generator at the industrial site, though it is a small 16-megawatt oil-burning plant slated for decommission this month. But there has been a recent push by lawmakers to potentially reopen the site.
Due to aging power plants closing and high-energy users such as data centers planning to come online, Delawareans could be under threat of energy rate hikes, along with a dwindling supply. According to the US Energy Information Administration, Delaware already consumes 81 times the energy it produces. In 2025, 82% of the state's electric power came from natural gas, an imported resource from Pennsylvania, as Delaware has no natural gas reserves or means of producing it. This energy insecurity would be further exacerbated by large data centers, such as the proposed 1.2-gigawatt Project Washington in New Castle. It is important to note, that Delaware currently has 2.4 gigawatts of power generation capacity from Natural Gas alone in Delaware. However, because we have to import all of our gas from Pennsylvania, it is far more expensive to produce electricity from our DE plants than it is to produce them from the PA plants. PJM dispatches power from plants in order of cost, so our Delaware plants are often only fully dispatched during peak times.
Alternative energy sources have been a focus for lawmakers seeking to mitigate rising energy costs. Senator Brian Pettyjohn of Georgetown has pushed for new natural gas plants in the state. House Bill 186, opposed by the Sierra Club, was introduced to the Delaware General Assembly in June 2025 under bipartisan support. The bill calls for up to $45 million dollars annually in taxpayer-funded incentives to be provided for “the construction and operation of a limited number of high-efficiency combined-cycle gas turbine generation sites.” Eligible facilities with an output between 100 and 500 MW would receive sellable credits to offset corporate tax liability, even for power plants used privately.
This support is followed by hopes of reopening and converting the Indian River plant into a cleaner, more efficient natural gas plant. Republican lawmakers are reportedly “working with stakeholders” to potentially reopen the site. According to Pettyjohn, back in February of this year, he was in talks with Chesapeake Utilities to bring natural gas production to the old facility. He and Senator Gerald Hocker of Ocean View have also met with NRG officials to discuss how they may restore operations at the plant.
An example of such a development would be the Homer City power plant in western Pennsylvania. Formerly Pennsylvania’s largest coal-powered facility, developers are now constructing a 4.5 GW natural gas-powered plant and AI data center campus across over 3,200 acres. According to Homer City Redevelopment CEO Corey Hessen, about 3.7 GW would go directly to data centers. The remaining 700 MW would go back to the electrical grid for state residents. The idea is to provide power on-site “without sucking from ratepayers”, Hessen stated. First power generation is expected by early 2028. However, local residents share very familiar concerns regarding environmental impact once construction is complete.
NRG has also converted a coal-fueled plant into natural gas. In 2013, the company converted one of its units at the Dover Energy Center from coal to combined-cycle natural gas, saving money by reusing existing equipment and helping reduce air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The project cost NRG $25 million, of which $500,000 was granted by the state under then-Governor Jack Markell. But costs are continuing to rise as does demand for the equipment and facilities. It could cost over $10 million just to extend service from Indian River to the nearest natural gas transmission line, according to industry averages. That’s not including the tens of millions of dollars in investment in new gas turbines or the as-yet unknown cost of cleaning up the coal waste on-site to facilitate the transition. The rising demand for turbines and transmission infrastructure is driven by data center expansion across the country, resulting in a projected 195% increase in prices since 2019. Exactly how this natural gas conversion would be bankrolled remains to be determined.
Even if proper financing and planning take place, the redevelopment of the Indian River plant would just further Delaware’s dependence on out-of-state fossil fuels. It was mentioned earlier that over 80% of the state's electricity in 2025 came from natural gas. According to the EIA, all of those supplies come from Pennsylvania, and approximately one-ninth of that is sent to Maryland. Spreading that supply so thin would further add to energy rate increases for residents across the state. Renewable energy sources, such as offshore wind and solar paired with energy storage, have proven viable over the years. Delaware’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) sets a goal of up to 40% of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2035, with 10% from solar. While Delaware imports a majority of its energy from out of state and purchases clean energy credits to comply with the RPS, as of 2025, only about 8% of our in-state generation capacity is from renewables, with over 90% relying on imported Natural Gas from PA. Repurposing Indian River for an offshore wind farm interconnection could be a boon for cleaner power sources and significantly increase the amount of clean energy in our in-state energy mix, since the project would connect to the Delaware grid. By lowering demand for fossil fuels in Delaware from other states, harmful air emissions and other environmental impacts could be reduced.
Furthermore, a significant obstacle for renewables like wind power is opposition from the government at both the local and federal levels. The Trump administration has continually pushed for a fossil fuel resurgence across the country, and offshore wind projects have been stymied by the president’s executive orders. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Congress in July 2025, federal incentives and tax credits for renewable energy production are set to expire. US Wind, a Maryland-based wind energy company, plans to connect offshore wind to a substation next to the Indian River plant. Sussex County Council denied the permit request in 2024, and state legislators later passed a law to override the denial. When the county sued the state, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that state legislators have the last word on zoning power. This decision has introduced controversy over how land and energy are used and who has the final say in local control of these resources.
Moreover, NRG’s trustworthiness and past business practices should be called into question. The energy producer had to refund over $25 million to Delaware utility companies in January 2025 after overcharging customers for electricity. In 2021, NRG was forced by PJM, our local grid operator, to maintain Unit 4 in service until transmission projects came online to ensure reliability across the Delmarva Peninsula. That work was completed early, leading to the refund. That move by PJM, known as a Reliability Must Run Agreement (RMR), resulted in millions of dollars in ratepayer funds being paid to NRG to simply “be ready.” At no point during the RMR was the Plant forced to actually run or bid into the competitive markets managed by PJM, leading energy advocates to scratch their heads as to why the company was paid millions in the first place. Then there are the obvious health and environmental impacts from the previous run of the Indian River Plant, with studies conducted in 2011 showing elevated cancer rates and contaminated drinking water in the surrounding area. New EPA regulations issued in 2024 would require NRG to clean up its toxic coal ash dump sites, and even though the plant closed shortly after, the safeguards would remain in effect in the event of a site reopening.
Lawmakers and proponents of natural gas in Delaware see potential to reopen and convert the Indian River power plant. They argue that it would provide an opportunity for energy and business growth in the state. Opponents argue that the cost could be prohibitive and that further reliance on natural gas will only increase costs for customers using gas and electricity, exacerbate price volatility, and increase reliance on out-of-state imports. With the rise of safer, cleaner power sources and ongoing controversies, it may be best to leave Indian River's legacy in the past as Delaware seeks to ensure future power grid reliability.