Mon Power celebrates completion of first solar site in West Virginia

Mon Power recently completed its first solar site, the Fort Martin Power Station in Maidsville, W.V.

It is the first of five solar sites Mon Power and its sister company Potomac Edison have planned for the region. Both companies are subsidiaries of FirstEnergy Corp.

At the launch ceremony, public officials and entities that subscribed to receive a large portion of the energy generated at the Fort Martin solar site toured the facility and met with company leadership.

The 80-acre Fort Martin site features nearly 50,000 solar panels, which can produce up to 18.9 megawatts (MW) of solar energy per hour. One MW of solar energy powers a national average of 173 homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

“We’re proud to have achieved our goal of completing this solar site using local union workers. It is important to have this voluntary option available to customers, as renewable energy is a large economic driver in both attracting new industry to West Virginia and keeping existing companies that now require a portion of their electricity to come from renewable sources,” Jim Myers, president of West Virginia Operations, said.

More than 100 local union workers, primarily from the Morgantown and Parkersburg areas, were hired to complete the work at the Fort Martin solar site.

The five sites, when they are operational, are expected to generate up to 50 megawatts of renewable energy. Along with the Fort Martin solar site, two others in Rivesville, Marion County (5.5 MW), and Marlowe, Berkeley County (5.7 MW), were approved by the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) in August. Construction of those sites is expected to be complete by the end of 2024.

The two companies plan to seek final approval from the PSC later this year to build the additional two solar sites in Davis, Tucker County (11.5 MW), and Weirton, Hancock County (8.4 MW). They expect to complete construction of the final two sites by the end of 2025.

Mon Power serves about 395,000 customers in 34 West Virginia counties, while Potomac Edison serves about 275,000 customers in seven counties in Maryland and 155,000 customers in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.