Tag: Longview Power

PSC Gives Longview Power Extension For Gas, Solar Projects

Longview Power, which operates a coal-burning plant near the Pennsylvania border, applied to the PSC in 2020 for a siting certificate to build a gas plant and solar facility.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission has granted an extension to Longview Power to build a natural gas plant and a solar facility in Monongalia County.

Longview Power, which operates a coal-burning plant near the Pennsylvania border, applied to the PSC in 2020 for a siting certificate to build a gas plant and solar facility.

Construction on the project was to have begun by April 2025, but Longview now says the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the US in 2020, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and supply chain disruptions have made that difficult to achieve.

On Tuesday, the PSC granted an extension for Longview to begin construction by April 2029 and to complete the project by April 2034.

Longview plans to build a 1,200-megawatt combined-cycle gas plant, alongside a 70-megawatt solar facility that straddles the state border.

Longview is an independent power producer that supplies electricity to the PJM regional grid.

Longview’s coal plant is adjacent to Mon Power’s Fort Martin Power Station, which includes a coal plant and a solar facility.

Mon Power’s Fort Martin solar facility began operating in January and is the state’s largest. The coal plant is scheduled to retire in 2034.

W.Va.’s Longview Power Declares Bankruptcy Citing Low Energy Prices, Coronavirus

A West Virginia-based coal plant operator has announced that it’s filing for bankruptcy due to weak demand for electricity. Longview Power LLC, which operates one of the newest and most efficient coal-fired power plants in the U.S. hailed by the Trump administration as a model for coal’s future, announced in a Tuesday press release that it would seek to restructure its debts and ownership structure under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. 

 

The company cited low power demand, driven by a mild winter, cheap natural gas prices and the COVID-19 global pandemic. 

“This filing is unfortunate but necessary given the current depressed power prices, which have further dropped more recently due to the terrible COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the nation and dramatic effects of the pandemic on the economy,” said Longview CEO Jeff Keffer. 

Longview operates a 700-megawatt coal-fired power plant near Morgantown. The plant has been championed by federal officials, including former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who visited the plant in 2017. 

“This plant — and I won’t say plants like it, because there’s not a lot like it — is incredibly important to the future of this country,” Perry said, during the tour.

The company says operations will continue during the bankruptcy. 

In an interview last fall, Keffer was optimistic about Longview’s ability as a younger coal plant to weather the larger sector-wide coal downturn. 

“We’re able to produce electricity more efficiently than any other coal plant in our region, the PJM region,” he said. “We’re able to do it at lower costs than just about any other fossil fuel that includes gas-fired plants.”

But that was before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered large swaths of the U.S. economy, which included lowering demand for electricity. 

The filing does not affect a 1,200 megawatt natural gas plant and 70 megawatt solar farm Longview proposed in 2019. The two power generators will be constructed adjacent to the coal facility and were recently approved by state regulators. 

 

Longview Power Seeks OK to Settle Pollution Suit

Longview Power has asked a bankruptcy judge to allow it to settle a lawsuit alleging pollution violations by two subsidiaries.

The federal lawsuit alleges that pollution discharges by Coresco and Mepco exceeded their permits. It also says other pollutants were discharged without a required permit.

The companies deny the allegations.

The Dominion Post reports that Longview filed a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware last week seeking permission to settle the case. Under the proposed agreement, Coresco and Mepco would improve flows at two discharge sites. They also would construct equipment to collect and divert flows to a water treatment plant.

The Sierra Club and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy filed the lawsuit in West Virginia in 2012. Longview filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013.

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