Electrical Generation

Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Trumbull County

Lordstown Gas-Powered Electric Plant Moves Up Construction Timeline
January 15, 2015January 15, 2015

In April 2014, MDN told you about a proposal from Clean Energy Future to build an $800 million electric generation plant in Lordstown (Trumbull County), OH. The plant will be fired by natural gas from the Utica and Marcellus (see Clean Energy Plans NatGas Electric Generation Plant in Lordstown). At that time, the plan was to begin construction in December 2015 and complete the plant by the end of 2018. There was initial opposition to the plant because the site on Salt Springs Road would need to be re-zoned from residential to industrial. That didn’t go down well with the neighbors. Clean Energy Future has changed the plan to a different location. Those who once opposed the plant now embrace it and want it as a jobs-creator for the area. This is a happy story of industry and residents working together for a positive solution. It illustrates what happens when adults behave like adults…
Read More “Lordstown Gas-Powered Electric Plant Moves Up Construction Timeline”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Research

Power Generation Biggest Driver for Expanded Natgas Use in 2015
January 9, 2015January 9, 2015

According to a new report released earlier this week from the American Petroleum Institute (API), power generation will be the biggest driver for expanded natural gas in the U.S. in 2015. The report, titled “The State of American Energy Report 2015” (full copy embedded below) looks at not only natural gas, but wind, solar, biomass, nuclear and other forms of energy. America is now the world leader in energy production, something “unthinkable” just a few short years ago. Why? Thanks to the miracle of fracking…
Read More “Power Generation Biggest Driver for Expanded Natgas Use in 2015”
Alternative Energy | Commodity Price | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Research

ICF Forecast: Coal in Trouble, Gas Price Flat, Alternatives So-So
January 9, 2015January 9, 2015

ICF International, a leading provider of consulting services and technology solutions to government and commercial clients, has released its ICForecast Energy Outlook for the first quarter of 2015. The study highlights the near-, mid- and long-term future impacts of proposed U.S. federal environment regulations, including up-to-date analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rules and regulation activities; gas, coal and power market prices and coal production; and renewable energy development. What does it say? Coal plants will continue to be strangled by EPA regulations, natural gas prices will remain flat/low in 2015, wind energy faces “uncertainty” ahead and solar continues to make microscopic progress…
Read More “ICF Forecast: Coal in Trouble, Gas Price Flat, Alternatives So-So”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania

Public Hearing on NEPA Proposed Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant
January 6, 2015January 7, 2015

In August 2013, MDN told you about plans by Invenergy to build a combined-cycle electric generating plant near Scranton, PA that would be powered by locally extracted Marcellus Shale gas (see Marcellus Gas to Power Combined-Cycle Electricity Plant in NE PA). In October 2014, Invenergy purchased the 80-acre parcel where they plan to build the plant (see Invenergy Buys Land in NEPA for Natgas Electric Generating Plant). These things, however, take time. A lot of time. Years, according to Invenergy. Last night residents from the township where the plant would be built, Jessup, attended a standing-room only meeting. Press accounts indicate the room was divided with some in favor and others opposed to the project…
Read More “Public Hearing on NEPA Proposed Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

Who’s Building Natgas-Fired Electric Plants in the Marcellus?
December 12, 2014December 12, 2014

You might think the companies most bullish on using Marcellus Shale gas to generate electricity would be utility companies–what is called, in the business, an LDC or local distribution company. LDCs love low-cost Marcellus gas to redistribute to their customers and are doing so. Case in point: UGI Central Penn now sources 80% of the natural gas it delivers to customers in northeast and central Pennsylvania from the Marcellus Shale on its doorstep (see UGI Central Penn Natgas Rates Go Down Thanks to the Marcellus). However, it’s not utilities, local–like UGI–or national–like NRG–that are building new electric generating plants that use natural gas. It is, instead, private equity firms–investors–like Panda Power Funds, building two new plants in NEPA (see Plugging in to Panda Power’s Electric Generation Supply Chain). Why is it that private equity funds are building these plants–not only in the Marcellus but also in other regions–and not utility companies? Bloomberg explains…
Read More “Who’s Building Natgas-Fired Electric Plants in the Marcellus?”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Moxie’s NEPA Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant Gets 1st Approval
November 20, 2014November 20, 2014

MDN previously told you about a project under way by Moxie Energy to build an electric generation plant fired by Marcellus Shale gas in Salem Township (Luzerne County), PA. If the project goes forward, it would be Moxie’s third such power plant project in northeast Pennsylvania (see Moxie Energy in Hunt for Third Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant?). The first two such projects begun by Moxie were both later sold to Panda Power–before being built. Moxie gets all of the permits and gets ready to begin construction, then turns around and sells the project to others–at least that’s what they’ve now done twice. Some of the neighbors living close to where the plant will be built, near Wilkes-Barre, have complained and pushed back (see Balancing Act for New Natgas-Fired Electric Plant in NEPA). However, Salem Township supervisors voted yesterday to approve the project, the first and perhaps most important step on the way to putting shovel to ground…
Read More “Moxie’s NEPA Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant Gets 1st Approval”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

NJ Utility to Provide Marcellus Gas to Virginia Power Plant
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

Here’s one that will stretch your brain in new directions: A New Jersey utility, South Jersey Gas, has won the contract to provide Marcellus Shale gas to a new electric generation plant that will run on that gas, to be built in Loudoun County, Virginia by Panda Power. Panda, you may recall, is a Texas-based investment firm that invests in and operates electric plants, including two in northeast Pennsylvania (see Panda Power Buys Rights for 2nd Marcellus-Fueled Electric Plant). Although not located in the Marcellus region per se, the Loudon County, VA project, called the Stonewall Power Project, will be Panda’s third Marcellus gas-powered electric plant…
Read More “NJ Utility to Provide Marcellus Gas to Virginia Power Plant”
Bradford County | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | IMG Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | Wyoming County (PA)

Details on IMG’s “Tiny” Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants in NEPA
November 4, 2014November 4, 2014

In August MDN told you about a string of seven small electrical generation plants to be built in northeastern Pennsylvania by IMG Midstream (see 7 Small Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants Coming to NEPA). Last Friday IMG presented details of their plans to the Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Commission in Wellsboro, PA. Plans call for the small, 20-megawatt plants to built in Susquehanna County (2 plants), Bradford County (3 plants), and Wyoming County (2 plants). Two additional plants are now planned for southwestern PA, bringing the grand total to nine plants for IMG…
Read More “Details on IMG’s “Tiny” Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants in NEPA”
Carroll County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Utica Shale

Carroll County, OH to Get 2 New Utica-Powered Electric Plants
November 4, 2014November 4, 2014

Two different companies are planning to build electric generation plants that use Utica Shale as their source fuel in Carroll County, OH. Advanced Power Services will build a 700-megawatt plant and Terra-Gen Power plans a 600-megawatt plant. Together, both plants will inject $1.7 billion into the local economy when they are constructed…
Read More “Carroll County, OH to Get 2 New Utica-Powered Electric Plants”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania

Invenergy Buys Land in NEPA for Natgas Electric Generating Plant
October 31, 2014October 31, 2014

More than a year ago MDN told you about a new natural gas-powered electric generating plant being planned for Jessup (Lackawanna County, PA (see Marcellus Gas to Power Combined-Cycle Electricity Plant in NE PA). Invenergy, the company that will build the plant (and North America’s largest wind power generator), says the Jessup plant is still “years down the road.” But they’ve just taken the first step on that road by purchasing 80 acres of old coal property…
Read More “Invenergy Buys Land in NEPA for Natgas Electric Generating Plant”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Research

The Big Change from Coal to Natgas in Electric Generating Plants
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

We take no pleasure, as some do, in the demise of the coal industry. Yes coal pollutes more than other fossil fuels, but there are newer technologies that can be used to ease emissions from coal. But it seems it is an uphill battle and a battle that is (unfortunately) already lost. Once “environmentalists” have put the last nail in the coffin of the coal industry, they’ll be sharpening their axes to come after natural gas. It’s already starting to happen. However, the fact remains that many coal-fired electric generating plants in the U.S. are in the process, or soon will be, of converting to use natural gas. It’s good news for natgas, but the good news comes at the expense of coal. SNL Energy has just published a report tracking the conversion of these plants–plant by plant–from coal to (mostly) natgas…
Read More “The Big Change from Coal to Natgas in Electric Generating Plants”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chautauqua County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation

Dunkirk NY Electric Plant Natgas Conversion Challenged in Lawsuit
October 20, 2014October 20, 2014

There is precisely one (and only one) decision that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made with regard to clean-burning natural gas that we know of. Last December Gov. Cuomo trudged through three feet of snow in Dunkirk, NY to announce a deal had been struck to convert the local coal-burning electrical generating plant to burn natural gas instead (see Dunkirk, NY Electric Plant Saved – Converting from Coal to NatGas). If the plant is not allowed to convert, it will close and 435 megawatts of electricity will disappear, and along with it, 40% of the taxes paid to local governments and the local school district will evaporate too. You might think environmentalists would be happy to have the plant convert from “dirty” coal to clean-burning natural gas. How have they responded? By filing lawsuits against the conversion…
Read More “Dunkirk NY Electric Plant Natgas Conversion Challenged in Lawsuit”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Balancing Act for New Natgas-Fired Electric Plant in NEPA
October 14, 2014October 14, 2014

Something’s gotta give. The Obama EPA has declared war on coal energy. In case you didn’t know, something like half (or more) of the electricity you use in your house comes from electric generation plants powered by coal. Because of much stricter new regulations, many coal generating power plants will close in the coming few years. We either face rolling blackouts from lack of electricity–or something else steps up to the plate to produce that electricity. That something else is most likely natural gas. Either existing coal plants have to change out their technology to be fired by natgas, or new plants built. That’s going to inconvenience some folks. There aren’t enough “isolated” spots to build electric plants that are close to the population centers they serve. We (collectively, as a society) face a balancing act, as Moxie Energy is facing with a planned natgas-fired electric plant near Wilkes-Barre, PA…
Read More “Balancing Act for New Natgas-Fired Electric Plant in NEPA”
Bradford County | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | IMG Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Details on 3 Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants in Bradford County
October 9, 2014October 9, 2014

With 60 gigawatts of electric power generation going dark over the next few years due to Obama’s war on coal (enough electricity to power 45 million homes), something has to replace it. That something is almost always natural gas-fired electric generating plants. Some of those plants are sizable. But some are smaller. MDN previously reported that IMG Midstream wants to build a dozen tiny electric generating plants in across Pennsylvania–plants that will generate 4.4 megawatts of electricity. Seven of those plants are located in northeast PA (see 7 Small Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants Coming to NEPA). Three of those seven will be located in Bradford County, PA–one of the most heavily drilled counties in the state. Here’s a bit more detail about the three plants coming to Bradford County…
Read More “Details on 3 Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants in Bradford County”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Research

Coming Change from Coal to Natgas to Power Electric Plants
October 7, 2014October 7, 2014

Consulting firm ICF International is out with their fourth quarter ICForecast Energy Outlook in which they look at U.S. energy markets and the impact of regulations, prices and the availability of various energy sources over the near-, medium- and long-term. ICF is, of course, attempting to sell their service to government and corporate customers. We don’t have a copy of the full report, but we do have their press announcement which contains some very interesting high-level numbers that caught our eye. Among them is the amount of electricity generated by coal that is due to go offline over the next few years due to draconian new rules established by the overreaching federal Environmental Protection Agency. The amount of gigawatts due to go offline is…
Read More “Coming Change from Coal to Natgas to Power Electric Plants”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Research

Natgas Used for Heating Homes Up in Northeast, Down Elsewhere
September 30, 2014September 30, 2014

An article published last week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in their always-excellent Today in Energy online publication compares how different parts of the U.S. heat their homes. Three of the four regions in the U.S., including the northeast, primarily use natural gas as their primary heating fuel. However, only the northeast is seeing an increase in natgas use for home heating. All of the other areas of the country are seeing a decline in natgas use. Instead, they’re using more electricity. And how, you may ask, is electricity being produced? Yep–natgas and coal, primarily…
Read More “Natgas Used for Heating Homes Up in Northeast, Down Elsewhere”