Longview Power’s West Virginia solar plant is still a go, but the portion planned for across the border in Pennsylvania is not moving forward, for the time being.
CEO Steve Nelson said a lease option agreement for the Pennsylvania land that was in negotiations did not pan out and the company released the owners from the option.
“We still have the West Virginia properties that we still intend to go forward with the solar development,” he said. Meanwhile, they are looking for additional properties in Pennsylvania and are considering potential properties they already own in West Virginia to expand their solar operations.
In April, the state Public Service Commission approved two new Longview Power plants: one gas-fired, one solar. The projects are to be built by Longview Power II and Longview Renewable Power, daughter companies of Longview Power, which operates the existing coal-fired plant near Maidsville. Longview II would operate the gas-fired plant; Longview Renewable, the solar.
Longview II will be a 1,200 megawatt combined-cycle plant powered by two high-efficiency, low-heat-rate gas turbines and occupy about 54 acres of reclaimed mine land north of and adjacent to the existing plant.
Longview Renewable was to consist of solar panel array fields generating about 70 MW of power: four West Virginia arrays producing 20 MW and covering 127 acres near the existing plant, and 50 MW just across the Pennsylvania border.
“We see a general demand for solar,” said Nelson, who became CEO in September. (Previous CEO Jeff Keffer was named chairman of the board of directors.) “It’s a separate product that’s becoming more and more in demand, and that’s the business we’re in: to supply power in all its forms. We’re keen to stick with the all-of-the-above sort of strategy.”
The Dominion Post asked about the status of the PILOT agreement with Monongalia County.
“We are very close to having that completed,” he said.
The county hasn’t revealed the details of the PILOT yet, but as previously reported, the term sheet indicates proposed PILOT would provide the county with about $58.2 million across 30 years. Annual county revenue from the proposed PILOT is projected at $2.5 million up front, then gradually escalating from $1.58 million per year for the first five years up to $2.47 million in year 30.
Nelson said they expect construction on the gas-fired plant to start sometime late 2021 to mid-2022. It would be a 36-month project. Part of the nearby flat solar properties would be used to serve construction of the combined cycle plant, and once the gas-fired plant was completed they would convert those lands to solar generation. They expect the solar plant would go online in 2025.
The Dominion Post asked about Longview’s interest in filling the solar demand, given that the West Virginia solar plant will occupy more than twice the land of the gas-fired plant to produce less than 2% of the output.
Nelson said yes, a gas plant can generate power 24 hours a day for 80%-90% of the year, while solar produces power for only 15%-20% of a day. “Part of our understanding of the value of all-of-the-above is you have different attributes for different types of generation.”
Nelson said there has been some confusion about the intent to build solar. “We really are committed to a larger diversity in our types of generation; and each generation that we want to put in, especially the fossil ones, we want them to be the most modern, most efficient and the cleanest that we can reasonably build.”
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