Above Image from Press of Atlantic City: The B.L. England Power Plant in Beesley’s Point, by Garden State Parkway Milepost 28 in Upper Township, NJ. It was built to run on coal in 1962, and later converted to run on oil. South Jersey Industry spent years trying to get permits to convert the plant to natural gas from 2011 to 2018. The plant and cooling tower were demolished last year. The smoke stack is scheduled for demolition on October 26, 2023.
This opinion piece was first published in the Ocean City Sentinel on October 18, 2023. Click Here For Link To Ocean City Sentinel ‣ Ocean City, NJ News • Sports • Real Estate (ocnjsentinel.com) Letters to the Editor are NOT published in its online editions.
We are spending lots of money to destroy the vital electric power plant in Marmora by Garden State Parkway Exit 28. We will soon spend much more to replace it.
Breezes and sunshine are too weak and diffuse to power a safe and healthy society. Their biggest problem is that both are also intermittent and unpredictable. An electric grid needs the same level of power all the time.
Wind turbines make this very difficult because their power changes exponentially with wind speed. When wind speed doubles, a wind turbine produces eight times more power. Because we don’t have batteries big enough for a grid, all electricity not immediately needed is “dumped” and wasted.
When wind speed drops in half, wind turbines produce only 1/8 as much power. To stop the grid from crashing, smart meters must either instantly cut off power to customers, or new electricity must be immediately produced with oil or gas.
In the past, the Beesley’ Point plant was an important backup for most of South Jersey. That backup is even more important if Orsted builds its 200 ocean wind turbines. Without it, cutting off power will be the only option during “wind lulls”.
There was absolutely no need to destroy that plant in Marmora. Although it was originally built for coal and oil, South Jersey Gas tried to convert it to clean, cheap and abundant natural gas from Pennsylvania. Back in 2013, it applied for permits to build a 24 inch gas pipeline 22 miles to its existing natural pipeline in Millville. The new pipeline would have been buried under Route 49.
Radical leftists and Democrats killed that project with five years of lies and dirty politics. They falsely claimed the new pipeline would poison water, cause fires, and threaten wildlife in the Pine Barrens. Every high school and college science teacher in New Jersey knew these were lies. Yet not one spoke up to tell the truth.
We will pay a very high price to replace that power plant.
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