Ground Broken On $1 Billion Natural Gas Plant In Niles

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It’s taken a few decades, but a natural gas plant is about to get under construction in Niles. Ground was broken Wednesday morning on the Indeck Energy Center, which carries a price tag of roughly $1 billion. Construction will take almost three years and require 500 workers on the site of a former railroad repair yard. David Hicks is the vice president of business development for the company and talked to our partners at WSBT-TV about the market conditions that helped to bring the project to fruition.

“The price of natural gas has decreased dramatically over the last five to 10 years and there’s an abundant supply. And so that has made this type of technology, the combined cycle technology, is extremely cost competitive,” said Hicks.

Once the plant is online in March 2022, it will be able to serve 700,000 homes and businesses within 150 miles. The site was chosen because there is an interstate natural gas pipeline already running through the parcel. Indeck Energy Services is based in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove.