MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. — Construction could be underway by this time next year on a planned $615 million natural gas-fired power plant in Marshall County — a plant located along Route 2 that will generate electricity to be sold on the wholesale power grid.
The goal is for the plant to go into operation by 2018.
“There’s a tremendous need, right now, in the PJM grid for additional power,” said Andrew Dorn, managing partner for Moundsville Energy. The resources and pipeline infrastructure needed to generate that power, he said, are close at hand in the Moundsville area.
“The big benefit is we’re going to use about 100,000 MCF a day of local natural gas. That equates to about $105 million annually of locally sourced and processed natural gas.”
Dorn said work to secure needed air permits for the power plant project is already underway and applications for site permits will likely be submitted in the coming weeks. Once the permit requirements are met, Dorn said the focus will shift to securing financing from private sources.
As planned, the plant will be a combined-cycle plant, meaning electricity will be produced in two processes. Dorn explained, in general, natural gas will fuel a GE-manufactured turbine to produce power. The heat that comes from that turbine will then go into a steam generate to produce electricity in an additional way.
Once construction begins, it could take 32 months to complete the project. During construction, about 500 jobs could be created. It will take 30 full-time workers to run the plant.
“We think it’s a great project. We’ve had wonderful feedback from the capital markets and we’re confident that we can get it built and up and running,” said Dorn on Wednesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
“We think it’ll have a big economic impact on Marshall County and Moundsville and the state of West Virginia.”