Natural gas plant coming to Columbiana County

Staff report

WELLSVILLE

South Field Energy announced Thursday its plan to build a 1,100-megawatt, natural-gas electric-generating facility in Columbiana County.

The project is a $1.1 billion capital investment that will generate about 550 construction jobs for up to three years. When complete, the facility will employ 25 full time for engineering, technical, operation, management and administrative positions. The proposed facility will sit on less than 20 acres that are part of a 150-acre parcel. The site is about 3 miles from the village of Wellsville.

South Field Energy is a subsidiary of Advanced Power, an energy-development company based in Boston.

“Ohioans face a growing gap in energy production,” said Jonathan Winslow, senior vice president for development at Advanced Power. “With facilities like this, we can begin to close that gap by using advanced technology to produce substantial, reliable power, while also minimizing our environmental footprint.”

The facility is Advanced Power’s second such project in Northeast Ohio. The South Field Energy project is similar to Advanced Power’s Carroll County Energy, a 700-megawatt natural-gas electric-generating facility under construction near Carrollton.

Advanced Power has fully developed 1,540 MW power generation projects since 2000 and has 5,390 MW under development with 2,350 MW of generation under development in the U.S.