Panda Power Funds

It takes a long time to build a natural gas-fired electric power plant–especially a big one. We began writing about one of the largest coal-to-gas conversion projects in the country, happening in the heart of PA Marcellus country, back in February 2014 (see Panda Power Building 3rd Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant in PA). Panda Power Funds, a private equity firm located in Dallas, TX announced a partnership with Sunbury Generation to build a whopping 1,124-megawatt Marcellus gas-fired electric plant on the site of a retired coal-fired plant near Shamokin Dam in Snyder County, PA. Final testing is now underway at the facility, which was supposed to go online in February but is now scheduled to begin operations in May. Here’s an inside look at the complicated process of bringing a new power plant online…
Read More “Marcellus-Fired Panda Hummel Electric Plant Roars to Life in PA”

Yesterday Patrick McDonnell, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, went on a field trip and took a tour of the Panda Power Funds Hummel Station natural gas power plant site in Synder County. In February 2015, Panda announced a joint venture with Sunbury Generation to build a whopping 1,124-megawatt plant on the site of a recently retired coal-fired plant near Shamokin Dam in Snyder County (see Panda Power Building 3rd Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant in PA). Since that time the project has made steady progress and is now 88% complete. Panda said on the tour yesterday it expects to complete the plant and begin full operations in February of next year–just a little over three months from now. UGI has already built a 34-mile pipeline to feed the plant (see UGI Ready to Begin Flowing Gas via $150M Sunbury Pipeline in PA). Sec. McDonnell is tickled pink (or should we say natgas flame blue) with the project, and said so yesterday. Perhaps the biggest news to come from the tour yesterday is that Panda and Sunbury Generation have partnered for a second gas-fired power plant–right next door to the Hummel Station plant…
Read More “PA DEP Sec. Visits Snyder County Gas-Fired Power Plant; 2nd Plant?”

Last week saw a flurry of activity for the official ribbon-cutting at Panda Power’s very first built-from-scratch Marcellus gas-powered electric plant going online in Bradford County (see First NatGas Power Plant in Marcellus, Panda Liberty, Goes Online). We were so distracted with that momentous event, we almost missed another important Panda announcement: Panda finished securing $710 million worth of investments to fund its third Marcellus gas-fired plant–a huge plant (bigger than Panda Liberty), located in Snyder County, PA. We previously wrote about “Panda Hummel,” a 1,124 megawatt power station that will convert a former coal-fired plant to burn natural gas (see Update on Panda Power’s Huge Marcellus-Powered PA Electric Plant). Hummel will generate enough electricity to power 1 million homes! You can have all the great plans and ideas in the world, but they don’t get built without money. Panda has now raised the money to build Hummel, by selling debt to do it…
Read More “Panda Power Raises $710M to Fund 3rd Marcellus Power Plant”

In February MDN told you that Panda Power Funds, a private equity firm located in Dallas, TX already committed to building two 829-megawatt electric generating plants in Pennsylvania, was partnering with Sunbury Generation to build a whopping 1,000-megawatt plant on the site of a recently retired coal-fired plant near Shamokin Dam in Snyder County, PA (see Panda Power Building 3rd Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant in PA). It is, by all accounts, one of the largest coal-to-gas conversion projects in the country. Yesterday Panda released more details about the project. It will actually be 1,124 megawatts. Panda has contracted with Bechtel and Siemens Energy to build the plant, which, when up and running, will provide enough electricity to power 1 million homes. Here’s the latest on Panda’s “Hummel Station” project that will be fed by Marcellus Shale gas, including the tech being used to build it…
Read More “Update on Panda Power’s Huge Marcellus-Powered PA Electric Plant”