FirstEnergy Converts Berkeley County Coal Ash Landfill Into Solar Site

Ohio-based utilities provider FirstEnergy has completed construction on its third utility-scale solar site in West Virginia. Now, more than 17,000 solar panels in the Berkeley County community of Marlowe can supply up to 5.75 megawatts of energy to local consumers — enough to power nearly 1,000 homes.

FirstEnergy previously used the 36-acre property as a dump for coal ash from its neighboring R. Paul Smith Power Station. Located directly across the Potomac River in Williamsport, Maryland, the station generated electricity from 1922 to 2012 before it was decommissioned.

FirstEnergy closed the Marlowe landfill in 2022, then harvested more than 3 million tons of its coal ash for usage in cement manufacturing, according to Senior Communications Representative Will Boye. Once “remediated,” Mon Power and Potomac Edison — subsidiaries of FirstEnergy — began construction, he said.

Boye said the project was enabled in 2020 by Senate Bill 583, which passed the West Virginia Legislature and was signed into law by former Gov. Jim Justice.

That law allows utility companies to develop renewable energy projects with capacities up to 200 megawatts on defunct industrial sites. The provision sunsets on Dec. 31, 2025, blocking future projects unless the law gets renewed by state lawmakers.

Boye said allowing utility companies to diversify their forms of energy has helped “meet the state’s electricity needs,” plus a “growing demand for electricity” in areas like West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle that are experiencing population growth and new development.

“Every year, the growth projections are moving along,” Boye said.

After Senate Bill 583 was signed into law, FirstEnergy began to consider converting some of its brownfield properties into solar sites. They began planning for the Marlowe solar site in 2021 and launched construction in 2024, according to Kayla Pauvlinch, solar project manager.

By that point, FirstEnergy had already undertaken similar projects at brownfield sites in Marion and Monongalia counties.

In early 2024, the company completed its first in-state solar project at the Fort Martin Power Station, which is capable of generating 18.9 megawatts of solar energy. That fall, the company completed a second solar site in Rivesville, Marion County capable of generating 5.5 megawatts of energy.

Despite terrain challenges that can arise when placing solar panels in hilly West Virginia landscapes, Pauvlinch said these prior experiences helped her team complete the project smoothly.

“Construction-wise, being our third site, we learned the lessons on the Fort Martin site,” Pauvlinch said. “It was pretty easy going.”

Components of the panels were sourced entirely in the United States as part of an effort to support domestic industries, according to Director of Generation Services Doug Hartman.

“It’s not coming from overseas. It’s putting folks within this country to work, even building these renewable assets,” he said.

The project also employed 54 local union workers for construction, FirstEnergy said in a June 2 press release announcing the project’s completion.

Hartman said building a solar facility atop a former dumping site brings benefits to the company, utility customers and the environment alike. It diversifies the state’s energy network and expands energy access through less environmentally intensive means, he said.

“It certainly helps, providing some additional megawatts to the system,” Hartman said. “It does give a little bit of a more diverse energy mix to this part of the state. So it benefits not just the customers, but also the community and the environment.”

Hartman said the site is likely to operate for about 30 years, after which new developments in the solar industry may require current infrastructure to be upgraded or replaced.

In the meantime, Mon Power and Potomac Edison plan to develop at least two more solar projects in addition to the current sites in Berkeley, Marion and Monongalia counties.

Between all five of these sites, the company hopes to be able to generate 50 megawatts of energy, according to Hartman. That would mean generating 19.85 megawatts of energy between two future sites.

Residents and prospective customers can visit the FirstEnergy website to learn more about the solar program and how to enroll, Boye said. Mon Power currently serves roughly 395,000 customers across 34 West Virginia counties, according to the press release.