FirstEnergy subsidiaries begin construction on West Virginia wastewater treatment projects
On Monday, FirstEnergy subsidiaries Mon Power and Potomac Edison announced they had started construction on two projects to improve the wastewater treatment process at their West Virginia power plants.
The environmental upgrades at Fort Martin Power Station in Maidsville, W.V., and Harrison Power Station in Haywood, W.V., will help the two companies support clean drinking water, while supporting their commitment to minimizing the environmental impact of their operations. The projects will meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s updated effluent limitation guideline requirements, the companies said.
The projects will create a system to grind coal ash from the bottom of the plants’ furnaces into smaller pieces, which will then fall onto conveyor belts for removal. Currently, the ash is cleaned from the furnaces using water from nearby streams. The new process will create less wastewater, the companies said.
“Moving the ash in a mechanical manner will reduce the amount of water that touches ash and then therefore needs to be processed at each plant,” said Adam Hoalcraft, a consulting engineer at Harrison Power Station. “The project aligns with FirstEnergy’s mission to protect and preserve the natural environment and to promote a sustainable future for the customers and communities we serve.”
The upgrades include constructing conveyor belts to transport the coal ash to a new three-sided concrete structure where the ash will be loaded into trucks and taken to a licensed disposal site nearby. Construction is slated to be complete by the end of 2025. The two plants are expected to retire in 2035 and 2040. Combined, the plants generate about 3,080 megawatts of power, and serve about 825,000 customers in West Virginia and Maryland.
