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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

$615 Million Natural Gas Power Plant Planned Near Moundsville, West Virginia

04/23/2014
A $615 million natural gas combined-cycle power plant with a nameplate capacity of 549 megawatts will be built on a 37-acre site in Marshall County, West Virginia, approximately four miles south of Moundsville. Once operational, the plant will employ 30 skilled workers.

Moundsville Power, the firm developing the project, is contracting with a consortium consisting of CH2M Hill and General Electric. The CH2M Hill-led consortium will build the plant and provide construction and operating guarantees. The project is being built on a 37-acre portion of the former Allied Chemical Plant site that is now owned by Honeywell who has been remediating the site.

The plant will use GE 7.04 gas turbines in a two-by one-configuration. The plant will be fuel-efficient and have a small environmental footprint. As a combined-cycle facility, the heat and rotational energy produced by the combustion of natural gas in a gas turbine produces electricity. The exhaust heat from that process is then used to produce steam, which drives a steam turbine to produce additional electricity without the use of additional natural gas.

"Our natural gas producers are supplying energy for America,” said Corky DeMarco, Executive Director of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association. "This merchant power plant is manufacturing a product that uses Marcellus Shale to create jobs in the Mountain State."

Construction is planned to begin in mid 2015, officials at Moundsville Power, a Buffalo, New York-based independent power plant developer, said. The plant will utilize $105 million of natural gas annually sourced from West Virginia producers and processors.

Moundsville spokesman, Andrew W. Dorn Jr., said, "The project will have a very significant positive financial impact on Moundsville, Marshall County and the State of West Virginia.”

"This project would not be possible without the vision, leadership and desire of Honeywell to return as much of this site as possible to a viable economic use," said Dorn. "Honeywell has been an indispensable partner in the development of the site providing significant financial and engineering support to move the project forward. Without Honeywell's support and participation this project would not be possible."

"The required regulatory approvals are well underway and we want to thank the Regional Economic Development Partnership, the Marshall County Commissioners and the Marshall County Board of Education for their consideration," explained Dorn. "What we are building is a facility that will bring living-wage jobs and long-term investment to Marshall County and the surrounding region," Dorn added. "We are also creating an operation that demonstrates responsible use of West Virginia's natural resources and produces electricity in an extremely clean manner."

"This is an exciting project with the potential to have a great positive impact on our region," explained Don Rigby, Executive Director of the Regional Economic Development Partnership. "We have been working the Moundsville Power development team for over a year now and will continue to provide assistance to help them as they work through the project's development."

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