Covanta Essex Company
Port Authority of New York and New JerseyEssex County
Covanta Essex is a municipal solid waste-fired power plant in Essex County, New Jersey, with 69.8 MW of nameplate generating capacity across two generators that have been operating since November 1990. Also known as the Essex County Resource Recovery Facility, the plant is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and operated by Reworld, the company formerly known as Covanta, through the local entity Covanta Essex Company. Under an operating agreement effective January 1, 2013, the Port Authority gave Covanta control of the facility through 2032, with an option to extend that control to 2052. The plant burns roughly 2,800 tons of municipal solid waste a day, mostly from the 22 municipalities of Essex County, while recovering ferrous and non-ferrous metals for recycling. Power from the plant is sold into PJM, settling at the Essex County Resource Recovery Facility price node located essentially on site.
EIA plant 10643 · Inventory reporting month unavailable.
| Generator | Technology | Status | Power (MW) | Energy (MWh) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEN1 | Municipal Solid Waste | Operating | 34.9 | Unknown |
| GEN2 | Municipal Solid Waste | Operating | 34.9 | Unknown |
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Current generator records and technology attributes reported through EIA-860.
| Generator | Capacity | Technology | Operation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEN1 | 34.9 MW 30 MW summer | Municipal Solid Waste ST | Nov 1990 | Operating |
| GEN2 | 34.9 MW 30 MW summer | Municipal Solid Waste ST | Nov 1990 | Operating |
Monthly EIA generation history and recent market-resource behavior where linked telemetry is available.
Where the plant sits in PJM: its market, pricing node, utility territory and the network around it, each with how it is known.
Source-backed project transactions, agreements, land records, permits, and environmental disclosures. Portfolio and adjacent-project facts remain explicitly scoped.
Parties, market resources, and identifiers tied to this asset, with owner, operator, developer, EPC, compliance provider, and interconnecting entity roles kept separate.
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Project milestones and public references behind the asset profile.
Facility construction began in 1986. A 1987 New Jersey court decision noted that the original construction schedule expected the facility to be operational by January 31, 1987, but delays pushed the target to 1990.
Monthly generation is reported through EIA-923. Capacity factor uses the current EIA nameplate capacity and is shown only for complete calendar years.
Portfolio membership follows the latest EIA-860 reporting entity. It does not imply ultimate ownership.
Waste processing began with the first burn in November 1990.
Commercial operation of the facility commenced in February 1991.
Danielson Holding Corporation, through its wholly owned subsidiary Covanta Energy Corporation, closed the acquisition of all issued and outstanding shares of American Ref-Fuel Holdings Corp. for $740 million in cash. Separately, Danielson/Covanta assumed approximately $1.2 billion in consolidated net debt. The acquisition included American Ref-Fuel Company of Essex County; the operating company was renamed Covanta Essex Company and continued operations under the Port Authority service agreement and site lease.
EQT Infrastructure (EQT Infrastructure V fund) closed the acquisition of all shares of Covanta Holding Corporation for $20.25 per share of common stock, representing an enterprise value of approximately $5.3 billion including assumed debt. This was a corporate parent-level transaction; the Port Authority remained the nominal owner of the facility.
Covanta announced its transformation into Reworld, a new corporate brand identity reflecting its evolution as a sustainable waste solutions company.
Answered from the published record above. Questions whose inputs this profile does not carry are omitted rather than estimated.
Covanta Essex Company reports 69.8 MW other of operating nameplate capacity. These technology ratings do not establish a common export limit. Source: EIA Form 860M.
Covanta Essex Company is a Municipal Solid Waste facility in Essex County, NJ, participating in the PJM market.
Covanta Essex Company is in Essex County, NJ, inside the PJM balancing area.
Covanta Essex Company is operated by Covanta Essex Company according to the EIA generator inventory. Reporting membership does not by itself establish ultimate ownership.
Covanta Essex Company reported 471.9 GWh over the twelve months to 2026-08. Figures are net generation as filed to EIA-923.
By capacity, Covanta Essex Company ranks #8 of 55 operating plants of the same technology nationally. It ranks #1 of 4 in NJ.
Plants within 25 km, nearest first, regardless of technology. Proximity is straight-line distance between mapped plant coordinates; it does not by itself establish a shared point of interconnection.