Pleasants County Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Presentation: Pleasant Plant’s Hydrogen Conversion Still Involves Coal

Burning hydrogen emits no carbon dioxide. However, the source of that hydrogen at Pleasants will still be coal.

A state Senate committee heard new details Wednesday about how the Pleasants Power Station will be converted from coal to hydrogen.

Pleasants is a 1,300-megawatt power plant along the Ohio River north of Parkersburg. Its coal-fired boilers went cold in June when its then-owner, Energy Harbor, shut them down.

But state lawmakers, including Sen. Donna Boley, a Pleasants County Republican, fought to save the plant from closure.

Not long after the plant went idle, a California company called Omnis Technology stepped in.

Omnis reactivated the plant. The ultimate goal, though, is to produce graphite on the site and use the hydrogen byproduct to generate electricity.

Burning hydrogen emits no carbon dioxide. However, the source of that hydrogen at Pleasants will still be coal.

Steve Winberg, the former Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy in the Trump administration, explained to the Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee how the process would work.

“Their goal is to convert Pleasants from coal to 100 percent hydrogen, and then make the hydrogen from the coal. So, at a minimum, we’ll see the same amount of coal going to Pleasants, but it will be converted to hydrogen, and then the hydrogen will be burned in the boiler. So, there’s going to have to be a retrofit on that boiler to allow it to burn hydrogen and still maintain the 600 megawatts that it’s capable of maintaining or producing.”

Winberg explained to the committee that the technology is emerging. It requires heating the coal to 3,000 degrees Celsius. The bar the process has to clear is producing hydrogen that’s cheaper than natural gas.

“If this technology works, it will be cost competitive with natural gas. And so proof is in the pudding, we’ll see if they’re able to get it to work at 3,000 degrees. But if they do, it’s a pretty intriguing technology.”

Omnis is investing $800 million into the facility. If successful, it will need 600 workers to operate in addition to the 160 who run the current plant.

Saved From An Uncertain Future, Pleasants Power Station Is Reactivated

At the Greenbrier Resort, Gov. Jim Justice said Omnis Technologies would invest $800 million into the plant and eventually run it on hydrogen.

For the past several weeks, the Pleasants Power Station has been idle, its cooling towers emitting no steam high above the Ohio River in Pleasants County.

On Wednesday, the 1,300-megawatt power plant was reactivated, achieving a goal of state and local officials who wanted to preserve its jobs and tax revenues.

At the Greenbrier Resort, Gov. Jim Justice said Omnis Technologies would invest $800 million into the plant and eventually run it on hydrogen.

“The Pleasants Power Plant, a power plant, a coal-fired power plant, is taking new life,” Justice said.

According to the governor’s office, Omnis will create 600 new jobs in addition to saving the 160 jobs at the existing power plant. It’s not clear when the plant will be converted to hydrogen.

In this year’s regular session, state lawmakers overwhelmingly approved resolutions to encourage Mon Power to purchase the 44-year-old plant.

At the urging of the Public Service Commission (PSC), Mon Power did explore that option and proposed a $36 million surcharge on electricity customers to keep the plant in operating condition.

That became a moot point when Omnis stepped in.

Donna Boley, The Longest Serving State Senator

Since Boley first started working in the state Senate there has been seven governors and seven US presidents.

In 1991, Donna Boley was the only Republican in the state Senate. Now she is part of a Republican supermajority in the West Virginia Legislature.

Boley, of Pleasants County, was appointed by Republican Gov. Arch Moore in 1985. She has been elected 11 times since then and is the longest serving senator in the state’s history.

“It never dawned on me that we would become a majority or supermajority,” Boley said.

Many of her past colleagues, sick of having so little political power, decided not to run again — leaving her the only Republican in the Senate for a couple years.

“They just decided that at the last minute they weren’t going to run, because they didn’t like being in the minority,” Boley said. “So, I guess if they didn’t like being in the minority, they just walked away.”

But Boley stayed. For many years, she said she was the only “no” vote.

“I never had a problem being in the minority because I always thought we would be the minority,” Boley said.

Donna Boley was sworn in by Gov. Arch Moore on May 14, 1985.

*Courtesy*

However, throughout the 2000s and 2010s, more and more Republicans won.

“Everything sort of changed in 2014,” she said.

After the 2014 midterm, the Senate officially flipped. Seventeen Republicans were elected, and 17 Democrats were elected.

While some officials were trying to figure out who would be the Senate President, others were trying to find a senator who was willing to switch to another party — and bring with them majority control.

That senator was Danial Hall of Wyoming County. After being elected as a Democrat, he switched.

“It made the (tally) 18 to 16. So, we took over that night,” Boley said.

The close split between the parties didn’t last long. By 2020, Republicans had a supermajority, meaning they occupied two-thirds of the seats in both the House and Senate.

For Boley and other Republicans, this was the beginning of a new era for Republicans in West Virginia. But unlike many of her colleagues, Boley had been around to see the limitations and challenges that supermajorities face from watching how the Democrats used their once vast powers.

“You tend to start fighting amongst yourself,” she said.

Last session, Republicans did fight among themselves. Republican Sen. Robert Karnes of Randolph County was removed from the Senate chamber after he demanded some of the bills be read in full — a tactic occasionally used in the legislature to use up a lot of time and to make a political point.

Boley also has some wisdom to pass down to her Democratic colleagues.

“Well, the minority leader now is Sen. (Mike) Woelfel. And he stopped me during the regular session and said, ‘I need to talk to you. It looks like I might be appearing next year as the lone Democrat.’ And I said, ‘Well you know, just enjoy it. There is not much you can do except stand up and vote no. If you don’t agree with it, just vote no,” Boley said.

And that’s what Boley did, and said she will continue to do until she is ready to retire — which she said she doesn’t plan on doing currently.

Outside work, Boley loves to spend time with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She said she tries to see them as much as possible. She loves her work in the legislature and said she is grateful she stayed — even when she was the only one.

Pleasants Power Station, Once Facing Closure, Now Has A New Owner

Few details of the transaction are publicly available, including the purchase price. It’s also unclear how many of the plant’s 165 employees will be retained.

The Pleasants Power Station officially has a new owner.

As of Tuesday, Quantum Pleasants has taken over the coal-burning plant in Pleasants County from ETEM, according to a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

FERC approved the deal last week.

The plant ceased operating on June 1, and ETEM had intended to demolish it and redevelop the site.

Quantum has plans to produce graphite, a key ingredient used to make batteries. The process produces hydrogen as a byproduct, and Quantum plans to fuel the power plant with it.

Few details of the transaction are publicly available, including the purchase price. It’s also unclear how many of the plant’s 165 employees will be retained.

The 1,300-megawatt plant first came online in 1979. It could have closed several years ago, but state lawmakers and Gov. Jim Justice rescued it with a $12.5 million a year tax break.

Earlier this year, again faced with the prospect of Pleasants shutting down, state lawmakers passed resolutions to encourage Mon Power to purchase the plant.

Mon Power did examine the possibility, and initially asked the state Public Service Commission to charge ratepayers $3 million a month to keep the plant in operating condition while it studied a purchase.

By stepping in, Quantum Pleasants ensures that Mon Power ratepayers will not be on the hook for the plant.

FERC Approves Transfer Of Pleasants Power Station To Omnis Technologies

Omnis proposes to convert the plant to hydrogen fuel that’s a byproduct of manufacturing graphene, a carbon-based material used in the aerospace industry.

Federal regulators have signed off on the transfer of the Pleasants Power Station to a new operator.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the transfer of control of the Pleasants plant to Quantum Pleasants, which is owned by Omnis Technologies.

Omnis emerged as a potential buyer of the 1,300-megawatt coal-burning facility in Pleasants County when Mon Power was in active talks to acquire the plant from ETEM.

ETEM had intended to demolish the plant and remediate the site. Pleasants ceased producing power on June 1.

Omnis proposes to convert the plant to hydrogen fuel that’s a byproduct of manufacturing graphene, a carbon-based material used in the aerospace industry.

The Omnis proposal does not require a surcharge on Mon Power customers. Still, it isn’t clear when Omnis would begin producing power at Pleasants, nor how many workers it would retain.

The plant employs about 165 workers and contributes $2 million a year in property taxes to Pleasants County. State lawmakers pushed hard to save it, passing a resolution encouraging Mon Power to purchase it with overwhelming majorities in both chambers.

Pleasants would have closed sooner if not for a $12 million annual tax break lawmakers approved.

State Agency That Urged Mon Power To Buy Pleasants Pans Proposal

The West Virginia Public Service Commission heard testimony Friday from Mon Power officials about a proposal to spare the Pleasants Power Station from closure.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) heard testimony Friday from Mon Power officials about a proposal to spare the Pleasants Power Station from closure.

Mon Power officials told the commission that they need approval by next week to impose a $3 million a month surcharge on ratepayers to keep the Pleasants plant from shutting down at the end of May.

That drew pushback from the very state agency that first recommended Mon Power look at buying the plant.

Robert Williams, the director of the Consumer Advocate Division of the PSC, said ratepayers would receive no benefit for the extra cost on their bills.

“Not one ton of coal will be burned. Not one kilowatt hour of generation will be coming out of that plant,” Williams said. “They’re saying, ‘we want another year to look at this and think about it.’”

The 12-month surcharge would keep the plant’s workers on the payroll, keep the tax revenue flowing to Pleasants County and maintain the plant in operable condition.