Electrical Generation

Bradford County | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Panda Power Funds | Pennsylvania

Panda Power’s 2 PA Marcellus-Fired Electric Plants Complete!
June 22, 2016June 21, 2016

In August 2013, Moxie Energy of Vienna, VA sold the permits/rights to build a new Marcellus gas-powered electric generating plant in Bradford County, PA to Panda Power Funds of Dallas, TX (see Moxie Liberty Sells PA Electric Plant Project to Panda Power). The project was renamed from Moxie Liberty to Panda Liberty. A few months later, in December 2013, Moxie sold a second Marcellus-gas fired electric plant project to Panda, this one slated to be built in Lycoming County, PA (see Panda Power Buys Rights for 2nd Marcellus-Fueled Electric Plant). That project was renamed from Moxie Patriot to Panda Patriot. Panda contracted with Gemma Power Systems (Connecticut) to build both 829-megawatt plants. We have some terrific news to share: Gemma reports completing both facilities and has turned them over to Panda to begin operation!…
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Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Susquehanna County | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

NEPA Pipeline for Power Plant Gets Positive FERC Assessment
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company (TGP) is proposing to build a small pipeline near Scranton, PA to service what will be the state’s largest natural gas-fired electric generating plant, in Jessup (see Kinder Morgan 4Q15: Cutting Dividend, PA Pipeline Progress). The pipeline project is called the Triad Expansion Project and involves building seven miles of new 36-inch pipeline alongside an existing pipeline in Lenox and Clifford Townships, Susquehanna County, PA. When complete, Triad will deliver 180,000 dekatherms (180 million cubic feet) of natural gas per day to the new Invenergy plant in Jessup, called the Lackawanna Energy Center. Good news for the Triad project and the Invenergy plant: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has just granted a favorable Environmental Assessment for the pipeline–all but guaranteeing its approval…
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Allegheny County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Elizabeth Twp Rejects Clean Invenergy Power Plant at Dump Site
June 15, 2016June 15, 2016

Elizabeth Township PA – Credit: Wikipedia

Invenergy is in the process of building a $500 million Marcellus gas-fired electric plant in Jessup (Lackawanna County), PA–near Scranton, PA in the northeastern part of the state (see PA DEP Approves Jessup, PA Marcellus Gas Electric Plant). When built, and every indication is that it will get built this year, the Jessup plant will be the largest gas-fired plant in the state, generating 1,480 megawatts of electricity by using clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas. With that successful project under way, Invenergy turned their attention to the southwestern part of PA and announced their desire/plan to build a second plant in Elizabeth Township, in Allegheny County (see Invenergy Eyes SWPA for Second Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant). The second plant would be much smaller, at 550 megawatts, and would be built on a brownfield site near Pittsburgh. Even though the site where Invenergy wants to build is a former landfill where fly ash was dumped, making it unusable for just about any other purpose, a group of local residents would prefer to keep it a contaminated dump rather than convert it to a beneficial use like generating electricity (see Invenergy Gets Pushback on Proposed Natgas Power Plant in SWPA). Such is the kooky world of antis. Unfortunately, the local kook antis have now enlisted the support of Elizabeth Township’s zoning board…
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Cambria County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Voice Support for CPV NatGas Power Plant in Cambria County, PA
June 15, 2016June 15, 2016

Cambria County PA – Credit: Wikipedia

Anti fossil fuelers in Pennsylvania have gone so bizarrely off the rails they object to ANYTHING that uses, touches or mentions “natural gas.” They have, quite simply, left their senses. They are irrational. One of the latest examples is their total opposition to allowing new clean-burning natural gas-fired electric plants to be built. We told you in a companion story today that Elizabeth Township (near Pittsburgh) is refusing to site a natgas-fired electric plant on an old landfill site, suitable for no other purpose (see Elizabeth Twp Rejects Clean Invenergy Power Plant at Dump Site). The next battle will be at a hearing for a proposed plant in Cambria County. Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) is planning a $900 million natgas-fired power plant to be located off Route 271 near Vinco in Cambria County (see 2 Natgas-Fired Electric Power Plants Coming to Cambria County, PA). The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection will hold a hearing in Mineral Point next Tuesday on the proposed CPV project. It’s important for natural gas supporters to turn out and voice your support…
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Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Talen Energy

Talen Energy Converting Moutour, PA Plant to Burn Coal AND NatGas
June 8, 2016June 8, 2016

It was just two days ago MDN told you about a Pennsylvania-based electric power generating company–Talen Energy–getting bought out by an investment company (see Investment Firm Buying Talen Energy – PA Electric Generating Co). We have more Talen news. The company just announced that one of its coal-burning electric generating plants, located in Montour County, PA, will get an upgrade to burn natural gas in addition to burning coal. The Montour Power Plant went online in 1972/73 and generates 1,504 megawatts of electricity. The $70 million upgrade planned by Talen (requiring a 15-mile pipeline) will continue to produce the same amount of electricity, but will give the plant the option to power it with either natgas or coal, depending on which is cheaper. More yummy, clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas on the way!…
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Bradford County | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | IMG Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

IMG’s Tiny NatGas-Fired Electric Plants Take Off in the Marcellus
June 7, 2016June 7, 2016

MDN first told you about IMG Midstream in August 2014 (see 7 Small Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants Coming to NEPA). At the time, IMG was proposing to build seven “tiny” natural gas-fired electric plants–each plant producing on the order of 20-22 megawatts of electricity (enough to power 13,000 homes). IMG added a couple of more to their plans in November 2014 (see Details on IMG’s “Tiny” Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants in NEPA). The beauty of IMG’s tiny natgas electric plants is that they are really small–about the size of a basketball court; they produce almost no air pollution; and they are quiet. It’s a really cool concept. We spotted an update on IMG in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. IMG’s very first tiny electric plant, in Susquehanna County, PA, went online last October. The second plant, in Bradford County, PA, went online last week. The former 9 planned plants has now ballooned. IMG plans to have 25 plants operating within the next five years!…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Trumbull County

Lordstown Energy Center Breaks Ground on $890M Electric Plant
June 7, 2016June 7, 2016

Artist’s rendering of Lordstown Energy Center – click for larger version

You can build them big, or build them small. MDN brought you an update today on IMG Midstream’s very successful “tiny” natgas-fired electric plants, beginning to dot the Marcellus landscape in Pennsylvania (see today’s companion story). However, there are many large natgas-fired electric plants being planned or built as well. An $890 million electric generation plant planned for Lordstown (Trumbull County), OH that will be powered with Utica Shale gas won village approval last summer (see Lordstown $800M Gas-Powered Electric Plant Gets Village Approval). The Lordstown Energy Center, as it’s called, then won state approval in the fall (see Lordstown $800M Gas-Powered Electric Plant Gets OH State Approval). Yesterday was the official groundbreaking for the Lordstown plant…
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Alternative Energy | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

Solar & Wind Electric Plants Cost 2x-4x More than NatGas to Build
June 7, 2016June 7, 2016

As you may have noticed, in today’s lineup of stories MDN covered news about two different natural gas-fired electric plant companies and the plants they are building in the northeast. Gas-fired plants are not only springing up everywhere in the northeast, but across the country. Why? Because a) Obama’s war on coal has forced many coal generating plants to close, and b) shale gas has made clean-burning natural gas as cheap as, sometimes cheaper than, burning coal to produce electricity. But coal and natgas aren’t the only sources that produce electricity. Solar, wind, biomass and others are also used to produce electricity. Radical environmentalists, who frankly don’t think for themselves and live in a false bubble, pretend that solar and wind could, “if we only had the will,” take over all electric production in this country. What a lark. There’s a reason natural gas is becoming the dominant fuel to produce electricity in this country–it costs less. Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, is fresh out with an analysis of how much it costs to build new electric plants. Guess which source is the cheapest? Yep–natural gas. And guess which sources cost two-to-four times as much to build as natgas? Yep–wind and solar. Which is why the radicals want to force natural gas into oblivion. Their preferred sources just can’t compete economically…
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Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Talen Energy

Investment Firm Buying Talen Energy – PA Electric Generating Co
June 6, 2016May 9, 2017

Last July MDN told you that Talen Energy, an electric generation company based in Allentown, PA, had cut a deal to acquire MACH Gen, LLC, the owner of three natural gas-fired electric generating plants (see Talen Energy Picks Up Gas-Fired Electric Plants – Marcellus in View). A couple of the plants are likely to use Marcellus/Utica Shale gas. In all, Talen has 16,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity in eight states across the country. Last week investment firm Riverstone Holdings made a $1.8 billion offer for Talen in a deal that would take the public Talen private. Riverstone already owns 35% of the company and the offer is for the other 65%…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | West Virginia

Coal Supporters Try to Stop Moundsville, WV NatGas Electric Plant
June 3, 2016June 3, 2016

It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on the proposed 549 megawatt, $615 million electrical generating plant to be built near Moundsville (Marshall County), WV. At last check almost a year ago, Moundsville Power was on schedule for an opening in 2018 (see Moundsville (WV) Electric Plant on Schedule for 2018 Opening). At that time project developer Andrew Dorn said he expected the project to break ground in early 2016. That didn’t happen. What’s the holdup? A group supporting coal-fired electric generation called Ohio Valley Jobs Alliance filed an objection to the West Virginia Air Quality Board’s permit issued for the project. Coal plants are dying almost daily, thanks to President Obama’s war on coal. People who support those dying plants are waging war on natural gas in a desperate attempt to stem the inevitable. Will the delay in construction mean the timeline for Moundsville Power slips?…
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Commodity Price | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Research

NatGas for PowerGen Record High This Summer; Price to Remain Low
June 2, 2016June 2, 2016

Strong demand from electric power generators will push natural gas demand this summer up by an estimated 4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), according to a new report from the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA). However, even though there’s more demand, because supplies are so bountiful, the price of natural gas over the summer is actually expected to go down, not up. Using published data and independent analyses, NGSA evaluated the combined impact of weather, economic growth, customer demand, storage inventories and production activity on the direction of natural gas prices for the summer of 2016 compared to last summer. The NGSA says summer 2016 will see a “remarkable growth in demand.” Even so, NGSA expects “downward pressure on prices compared to last summer.” Bummer. It’s great news for consumers and power generating plants. But not so good news for drillers. Below we have a full copy of the NGSA report…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

Electric Power Plants to Drive U.S. NatGas Demand
May 31, 2016May 31, 2016

The reason the price of natural gas is so low, as we’ve long pointed out, is simple economics. Supply and demand. We have a steady-to-slightly-increasing demand, but we have a whole boatload of new supply–thanks to the miracle of hydraulic fracturing. How does this supply/demand imbalance get corrected? You either need more demand, or less supply. We can assure you the less-supply thing ain’t happenin’. That leaves more demand. Yes, there is some interest from other countries who want our cheap natural gas. But let’s face it–we need to create more demand right here at home. Will that happen any time soon? Perhaps. We’d long hoped that natural gas vehicles would come along to dramatically increase demand of our domestic gas. So far, that hasn’t happened. NGVs haven’t taken off. But there is one source that can’t seem to get enough natgas: electric power generation. Coal plants are shutting down at an alarming rate, thanks to Obama’s war on coal. Nuclear plants are also shutting down because they can’t compete with cheap natgas. The fantastic trend recently has been the planning and building of new natgas-fired electric plants. Will demand for natgas-fired electricity continue to grow? For a partial answer to that, we turn to the number crunchers at our favorite government agency, the U.S Energy Information Administration…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Tenaska NatGas Power Plant in Westmoreland, PA Advances
May 24, 2016May 24, 2016

Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station

In April MDN reported that a long-delayed $780 million natural gas-fueled power plant in South Huntingdon (Westmoreland County), PA has received a go-ahead and will be built by energy giant Tenaska (see Construction Begins on $780M SWPA NatGas-Fired Power Plant). The project was first proposed in 2009. It has all the necessary permits and now has the necessary funding. Marcellus/Utica natural gas will feed the plant. Black & Veatch is doing the engineering work and acting as the contractor for the project. However, E3 Consulting, another engineering firm, was hired by investors in the project to check out the plans–before the backhoes start digging. The good news is that E3 has looked close and given the project its seal of approval…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

Big Green Groups Attack Rhode Island Gov re Clean NatGas
May 24, 2016May 24, 2016

RI Gov. Gina Raimondo

Over a dozen Big Green groups–radicals opposed to clean-burning natural gas simply because it has the word “fossil” in front of the name “fuel”–are pressuring someone who they consider to be an easy target–the governor of the socialist state of Rhode Island. RI Gov. Gina Raimondo is supporting a critically-needed electric generating plant that will be powered by clean-burning natural gas–to be built by Invenergy. The reason Big Green opposes it? Because methane is “a potent greenhouse gas contributing to the climate crises.” First, there is no climate crises. Doesn’t exist. Second, these kooks not only claim the stuff you breathe out with every breath–carbon dioxide–is leading to man-made global warming, they now insist the smelly farts you emit (i.e. methane) are contributing to global warming too. Why does nobody point out the utter asininity of what they say? Why does anyone take them seriously? Here’s the latest diatribe from the usual sources, primarily the odious and misnamed Food & Water Watch…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Research

Most NatGas-Fired Power Plants are Built Near Major Shale Plays
May 20, 2016May 20, 2016

One of the big stories of the past year is the conversion of coal-fired electric generating plants to natural gas, and the construction of brand new gas-fired electric plants. We’ve written plenty about it. Yesterday the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) returned to that theme with a post observing that “many” (we’d say almost all) new gas-fired electric plants that are getting built in the U.S. are getting built in or close to major shale plays. The Marcellus/Utica represents some of the heaviest concentrations of new power plant projects…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

Unusual: Full Court to Hear Case Against Obama Clean Power Plan
May 19, 2016May 19, 2016

We’ve written plenty about President Obama’s draconian, so-called “Clean Power Plan” (see our stories here). In a nutshell, Obama and his servile Environmental Protection Agency are attempting a massive federal takeover in how electricity gets generated–by requiring more electricity is produced by so-called renewable sources. They’re doing it through limiting carbon dioxide emissions from power generating plants. It puts coal out of business completely. But the dirty little secret is that Obama is also taking aim at natural gas too (see Obama Stabs Natural Gas Electric Plants in Clean Power Plan). More than half of the states have joined together to to stop the plan by filing a lawsuit. In a surprise move, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the EPA from implementing the plan until the lawsuit brought by the states gets a full airing (see Supreme Court Shocker – Justices Halt Obama’s Clean Power Plan). The first step in the process of getting that airing happens at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In another move that surprised everyone, the DC District Court on Monday announced that the full court (9 of 11 justices) will hear the case and not the normal three-judge panel. Typically you start with three judges, and any decision can be appealed to the full court (which typically gets denied), and from there it goes to the U.S. Supreme Court. The DC court is removing a step so the process goes faster. Is that good (for those of us who believe this is unconstitutional), or bad? Depends on the news source you read…
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