CHARLESTON, W.Va. — First Energy continues to defend plans to build a gas fired power plant adjacent to a coal fired power plant in Monongalia County. Appearing on MetroNews Talkline Wednesday, First Energy President of Maryland and West Virginia operations, Chris Beam, said the company settled on a gas fired operation because it was the most feasible option for the future.
Beam said, by law, power companies are required to do a cost analysis on a range of fuels including coal, gas, nuclear, and various alternative energy sources.
“Using levelized cost of energy, a common way to evaluate different technologies over the time frame, this gas plant we’re proposing to build over the 30-year duration of its life is the cheapest megawatt for the customer base for us to provide,” he explained.
The plant is made necessary by a a projected increase in electric demand in the coming years. Much of the increased demand is attributed to data centers. But Beam said any large customers who comes under contract will need to cover any new costs to increase generation capacity to meet their needs. So far, there are none under contract, but Beam said they are in talks and the contract is imminent. Part of the proposal put before the state Public Service Commission called for a surcharge on all rate payers. The charge would be reimbursed once the data center or whatever large customer enters a contract agreement.
“If the PSC would approve the project as requested, we would start collecting a surcharge from the existing customer base. Once the contract is signed with the customer, they would come back and reimburse the existing customer base for anything they’ve paid toward that surcharge. Then they’ll pay that surcharge going forward,” he explained.
“We’ve set this up so that the customer that will take service from this new asset, the customer will take on all the costs associated with the asset that serves them. If it’s a 100 megawatt customer and it’s a 100 megawatt plant, they’ll pay for the whole plant,” Beam said.
But next door is the existing coal fired Fort Martin Plant. The decision and location drew concerns from the United Mine Workers as well as the West Virginia Coal Association. There’s a fear among skeptics eventually the coal plants both at Fort Martin and the Harrison Power station will be phased out in favor of the gas generation. Beam continued to deny the coal plants demise and reassured existing coal operations have a long life ahead.
“We’ve been very clear this is a plant in addition to the assets we currently have which would be Fort Martin and Harrison. We have new load coming up and Fort Martin and Harrison can’t meet that need, so we still need Fort Martin and Harrison running. We’re under oath saying that. This plant will be an addition to Fort Martin and Harrison, so they’ll all run,” Beam said.
Beam said finally the concern is whether one new plant will be enough. As more and more industrial customers come on line, the need for additional generating capacity will become more and more necessary. Beam said they are already evaluating that growth and whether plans for another plant need to be in the works going forward.