West Virginia PSC grants siting certificate to ESC Brooke County Power for natural gas plant
The West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) granted Tuesday a siting certificate to ESC Brooke County Power I, LLC to construct and operate a natural gas-fired wholesale electric generating facility of approximately 830 megawatts in Brooke County.
The project consists of two combustion turbines driving two combustion turbine generators and one steam turbine. It will be constructed in the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources’ Cross Creek Wildlife Management Area.
The power generated will be delivered to a new 345 kV three-breaker ring bus substation east of the facility that will be constructed and owned by First Energy. The facility will receive natural gas and ethane from dedicated pipelines that will be constructed and operated by third parties under contract to the company.
The estimated cost to build the project is $884 million. There will be no impact to West Virginia ratepayers.
The company expects that the project will create approximately 400 construction jobs and 30 permanent operations jobs. The economic impact on the state is projected to be approximately $1.8 billion during construction and $600 million in the first year of operation. The facility has an expected operational life of 30 years.
The company entered into Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreements with the Brooke County Commission and the Brooke County Board of Education and a lease agreement with the Brooke County Commission for the project
Construction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020. The facility is expected to enter operation by January 2021.
