West Virginia Executive Spring/Summer 2020 | Page 56
$600,000 during each year of operation to the county commission
and the Harrison County Board of Education. Similarly,
the Brooke County plant will provide $1 million to the county
on the commencement of construction, as well as yearly contributions
of $433,000 to the county commission and $167,000
to the Brooke County Board of Education.
In addition to having a smaller carbon footprint than traditional
coal plants, the two facilities will also have a legitimately
smaller footprint on the state’s land, accounting for roughly
25 acres each.
“In West Virginia, most people are accustomed to the coalfired
power plants that have stacks in excess of 1,000 feet. In
a natural gas-fired power plant, a stack is between 180-200
feet,” says Wilkerson. “The older, larger coal-fired facilities
take up a great deal of acreage. It’s not an exaggeration to say
that one of these power plants, the main buildings, will be smaller
than the coal piles that feed the coal-fired power plants.”
A number of other gas-fired plants are being built and planned
for West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio
because of the area’s available and affordable supply of natural
gas due to proximity to the Marcellus and Utica shale plays.
“Why West Virginia? It’s because you have significant transmission
lines from previous existing industrial plants,” says
Wilkerson. “We have a huge amount of natural gas with good
pipelines in place, especially in the northern part of the state,
and a workforce that knows how to build power plants and
large industrial facilities. All of that works very well together.” •
Photo by Harrison County Power.
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE