Longview Plant
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Longview Plant is an operating power station of at least 808-megawatts (MW) in Maidsville, Monongalia, West Virginia, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Longview Plant | Maidsville, Monongalia, West Virginia, United States | 39.707799, -79.958217 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1: 39.707799, -79.958217
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | operating | coal - bituminous | 808 | supercritical | 2011 | – |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner |
|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Mountain State Energy Holdings LLC [100.0%] |
Background
The Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit was issued by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. In 2004, the Sierra Club filed an appeal against the air permit.[1] In Jan. 2007, final permits for the project were approved and the construction began.[2] On Feb. 13, 2007, a group including the Fort Martin Community Association and the Forks of Cheat Forest Property Owners Association filed a legal complaint against Longview Power, on the grounds that the project’s air permit expired in 2005.
On April 10, 2011, it was reported that the plant would start burning coal that month, making it the first new coal-fired power plant to start up in West Virginia in 18 years (since a 96-megawatt Grant Town Power Plant in 1992). Longview’s coal will come from an adjacent Mepco mine, in Pennsylvania. Longview is expected to burn about 2 million tons of coal per year, the majority from Mepco. The plant will employ 97 people.[3]
Longview Power hired a consulting firm in February 2010 to study the applicability of carbon capture and storage at the plant. The results of the study have not been released, and it appears that the facility will not employ CCS technology.[4]
Costs and company restructuring
The Longview Power project cost approximately US$2.2 billion.[5]
After the plant began operation in 2011, construction defects and competition from natural gas in the power markets lead to the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013. In early 2015 the company reached a settlement of all construction claims, and two of its major contractors agreed to remediate plant defects at their own expense.[6]
Longview emerged from a bankruptcy restructuring in 2015, and was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), Centerbridge Capital, and other partners.[7]
In April 2020 Longview Power filed for bankruptcy again after low power prices and the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic impact.[8] That month Longview was approved for a loan from the taxpayer-funded Small Business Administration’s paycheck protection program. As part of the restructuring, Longview will hand a 90% stake to lenders that fund its path out of chapter 11 under its proposed bankruptcy plan, which requires court approval. As a result, plant investor KKR will lose nearly all of its roughly 40% stake in Longview.[9]
Coal supply
Longview got most of its coal from the Mepco LLC 4 west mine in Greene County, Pa., which transports the coal to the plant on a 4.5-mile conveyor belt. The mine was owned by affiliated company Mepco LLC.[7] The underground mine was closed in 2018 due to adverse geological conditions and higher costs.[10]
Citizen Groups
- Citizens for Alternatives to Longview Power
- West Virginia Sierra Club, Karen Grubb, kgrubb [at] fairmontstate.edu
- Appalachian Voices, outreach [at] appvoices.org
- West Virginia Environmental Council, Chuck Wyrostok, wyro [at] appalight.com
- Morgantown Citizens for Responsible Development, crdmorgantown [at] yahoo.com
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ Jim Kotcon, “Sierra Club Appeals Air Pollution Permit for Longview Power Plant,” Mountain State Sierran, May 2004.
- ↑ GenPower website, accessed January 2008
- ↑ "Longview, First New W.Va. Coal Plant in 18 Years, Fires Up This Month" The Daily Journal, April 10, 2011.
- ↑ "Stopping the Coal Rush" Sierra Club, accessed November 2011.
- ↑ "Longview Wins Approval to Exit Chapter 11 Protection". Dow Jones Institutional News. March 16, 2015.
- ↑ "Longview Wins Approval to Exit Chapter 11 Protection". Dow Jones Institutional News. March 16, 2015.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "With Perry's backing, W.Va. power plant aims to prove 'clean coal' isn't a myth," SNL, July 13, 2017
- ↑ "Longview Power files for bankruptcy; cites low PJM prices, coronavirus impact " S&P Global, April 14, 2020
- ↑ Yerak, Becky (2020-04-14). "KKR-Backed Power Company Files for Bankruptcy After Tapping Stimulus Funds". WSJ. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
- ↑ "Greene County coal mine to close with 370 jobs lost" Bizjournals, January 1, 2018.
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
