Gas-Fired Power Plants in West Virginia
By Kristen Uppercue
Concerned by the amount of greenhouse gases produced by coal-fired power plants, the power industry has been calling for alternative sources of energy for decades. This transition led industry leaders to focus on natural gas, a more sustainable and cost-effective power source that releases less than half the amount of carbon dioxide than coal, as part of its comprehensive energy strategy.
West Virginia is part of a 13-state power grid that covers much of the Appalachian region, including Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C. This grid, which is coordinated by regional transmission organization PMJ, accounts for the energy used by more than 65 million people, and 40 percent of that energy comes from natural gas with roughly one third coming from a mixture of coal and renewables, according to Curtis Wilkerson, president and founder of Orion Strategies. The strategic communications firm, which was founded in Charleston, WV, provides its national, regional and local clients services in public relations, government affairs, grassroots advocacy, research, polling and creativity.
Despite surrounding states buying into the growing natural- gas power plant industry, West Virginia didn’t enter the field until this year when it released plans for the construction of multiple natural gas-fired plants throughout the state, including one in Harrison County and one in Brooke County.
Energy Solutions Consortium, LLC (ESC) has partnered with Caithness Energy, LLC, both of which are represented by Orion Strategies, to construct the natural gas power plants in Harrison and Brooke counties. ESC is a New York-based independent power company focused on developing combined cycle power generating facilities featuring state-of-the-art technology to reduce carbon footprint and provide natural gas-driven energy solutions. Caithness Energy is a privately held independent power producer based in New York with multiple natural gas and wind facilities around the country that have either already been developed or are in the process of development. Caithness is committed to developing power projects that benefit the environment and the surrounding communities in which its facilities are located.
“The interesting part is that although West Virginia doesn’t have any baseload natural gas generation historically, all the states around us do,” says Wilkerson. “And even though West Virginia is a major producer of natural gas, the power plants in Brooke County and Harrison County will be the first ones to be constructed in the state.”
The ESC Harrison County power plant will access the region’s natural gas by interconnecting to an existing local natural gas pipeline. The plant, which will use $111 million of natural gas annually, will create an economic impact of $880 million during the plant’s construction, as well as $287 million per year following construction. The plant is expected to create 400 jobs during construction and 713 direct and indirect jobs associated with the plant, including maintenance and supply chains. Of these, 30 will be full-time jobs. When the plant is in operation, it will provide roughly 425,000 homes with power.
ESC will lead the development of this facility, working with all stakeholders from the federal and local government and community members, while Caithness Energy will lead construction and manage operations within the plant.
The ESC Brooke County power plant is located on a reclaimed strip mine and will use clean-burning, efficient technology to source the area’s natural gas, reducing water usage to less than 3 percent of what other similarly sized facilities use. When natural gas is combusted, a high-pressure steam is produced by mixing large amounts of water with heat and then placed through a steam turbine to generate electricity.
“The facilities are planned to be air cooled. They’ll essentially use fans to cool it down whereas other types of electricity consume an enormous amount of water,” says Wilkerson. “These facilities will use about 95 percent less water than other traditional sources.”
The Brooke County plant will be capable of powering 700,000 homes, supporting roughly 1,164 direct and indirect jobs while investing in local businesses. Similar to the Harrison County plant, up to 30 of these jobs will include full- and part-time employees. This facility is expected to provide $1.25 billion in economic benefits with an economic impact of $440.5 million in output.
“These two plants will have close to 2,000 jobs combined that they will either create or maintain,” says Wilkerson. “The construction jobs are even more than that. There will be hundreds of people on-site to build each one of these.”
Currently, both facilities are still in the initial planning process but are expected to reach financial closure later this year, allowing construction to begin shortly after. Construction on both plants is expected to take between two and a half to three years.
Each plant will provide sufficient funds to its designated county while also supporting local businesses, driving development into West Virginia and keeping the state competitive in the energy industry. The Harrison County plant will provide $1 million to the county when construction begins, as well as $600,000 during each year of operation to the county commission and the Harrison County Board of Education. Similarly, the Brooke County plant will provide $1 million to the county on the commencement of construction, as well as yearly contributions of $433,000 to the county commission and $167,000 to the Brooke County Board of Education.
In addition to having a smaller carbon footprint than traditional coal plants, the two facilities will also have a legitimately smaller footprint on the state’s land, accounting for roughly 25 acres each.
“In West Virginia, most people are accustomed to the coal-fired power plants that have stacks in excess of 1,000 feet. In a natural gas-fired power plant, a stack is between 180-200 feet,” says Wilkerson. “The older, larger coal-fired facilities take up a great deal of acreage. It’s not an exaggeration to say that one of these power plants, the main buildings, will be smaller than the coal piles that feed the coal-fired power plants.”
A number of other gas-fired plants are being built and planned for West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio
because of the area’s available and affordable supply of natural gas due to proximity to the Marcellus and Utica shale plays.
“Why West Virginia? It’s because you have significant transmission lines from previous existing industrial plants,” says Wilkerson. “We have a huge amount of natural gas with good pipelines in place, especially in the northern part of the state, and a workforce that knows how to build power plants and large industrial facilities. All of that works very well together.”
