Cogentrix Energy Inc., a Charlotte, N.C.-based power producer, has bought about 107 acres in Rathdrum, Idaho, where it plans to build a $100 million electricity-generating plant. If it can arrange the necessary financing, the company hopes to begin building the plant in about a year, says Kurt Humphrey, Cogentrixs vice president for development.


Humphrey, who is based in Portland, Ore., says Cogentrix completed the purchase of the land at the southwest corner of Lancaster and Green Ferry roads last month. It has had an option to buy the land since 1996, when it first disclosed that it was looking at building the plant.


A natural gas pipeline and high-voltage electricity transmission lines cross the land, making it a desirable location for a natural gas-fired turbine, such as the one Cogentrix plans, Humphrey says. Cogentrix also has zoning approval and an air emissions permit from the state of Idaho to allow operation of the plant, he says.


When the design work is completed, additional permits that are dependent on plan reviews will be sought, he adds.


The linchpin (of the entire project) is the sale of the power, Humphrey says.


Cogentrix has been negotiating with prospective buyers of the electrical power that would be generated by the planned 230-megawatt turbine since it acquired the option to buy the land, Humphrey says, and now hopes to have at least one agreement in place by the end of this year. He declines to identify the electrical-power buyers that have expressed interest in acquiring the power.


Contracts for the power sales would serve as collateral for loans needed to finance construction of the facility, Humphrey says. He says he hopes to have the financing in place by next June, which would allow construction to start a year from now. The project is expected to take about two years to complete.


The facility is to be a combined-cycle plant that would generate electricity both with a gas-fired turbine and a steam turbine driven by the waste heat from the gas-fired turbine, Humphrey says. After being constructed, the plant would employ between 20 and 25 people.


The plant is being designed now, Humphrey says.


Cogentrix bought the land in Rathdrum from a partnership administered by Bill Nixon, a Coeur dAlene attorney, Humphrey says. Humphrey declines to disclose the purchase price.


Since Cogentrix first unveiled its plans for the generating plant two years ago, n the privately held power producer has increased the generating capacity it owns elsewhere through acquisitions of plants and parts of plants, mostly in the eastern U.S., Humphrey says. It also has built and begun operation last December of a gas-fired turbinesimilar to the one planned for North Idahoin Vancouver, Wash., for the Clark County Public Utility District.