$800 million power plant proposed in Carroll County

Staff report

CARROLLTON

Carroll County Energy announced Tuesday that it will construct an $800 million, 700-megawatt, natural-gas electricity plant with the ability to power 700,000 homes in the region.

The proposed facility, which will be near Carrollton, about 60 miles southwest of Youngstown, will be built on a 77-acre plot about a half-mile east of state Route 9.

In a press release from Carroll County Energy, a subsidiary of Boston-based Advanced Power Services, project leaders estimate that the plant’s construction will have a positive economic impact in Carroll County.

The company estimates that the facility’s construction will create 500 jobs, and the plant is expected to employ between 25 and 30 full-time employees once it begins running.

The shale-gas boom has revolutionized the energy market and generated an abundant amount of the resource, making natural gas a strong competitor with more-traditional power sources such as coal.

What’s more, as the federal government aims to curb the emissions of coal with more-restrictive standards, many coal-powered electric plants have closed or will close in the coming years.

About 5,800 megawatts of conventional coal-fired power plants are scheduled for retirement by the end of 2015.

Also on Tuesday, FirstEnergy Corp. announced it would close two additional coal-fired plants in Pennsylvania, siting federal emission standards, low demand and depressed prices.

The new facility near Carrollton will use state-of-the-art General Electric natural-gas and steam- turbine technology in a process called combined-cycle, which captures waste heat and generates additional electricity.

The plant will produce half the carbon dioxide and less than 10 percent of the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide that a coal-fired plant generates.

The company said Tuesday that the project is in the process of completing environmental studies and it will soon apply for the necessary permits.

A date for construction has not been set.