Omnis Fuel fires up the Pleasants Power Plant again
Photo by Jess Mancini The Pleasants Power Plant is burning coal until the California-based Omnis Fuel Technologies changes over to hydrogen, a clean burning fuel.
Photo by Steven Allen Adams Gov. Jim Justice, speaking from the Greenbrier, talks with Pleasants County Commissioner Jay Powell live from the functioning Pleasants Power Plant Wednesday.
Photo by Jess Mancini The Pleasants Power Plant is burning coal until the California-based Omnis Fuel Technologies changes over to hydrogen, a clean burning fuel.
Photo by Steven Allen Adams Gov. Jim Justice, speaking from the Greenbrier, talks with Pleasants County Commissioner Jay Powell live from the functioning Pleasants Power Plant Wednesday.
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CHARLESTON -- Nearly three months since its smokestacks stopped, the Pleasants Power Plant has fired back up as California-based Omnis Fuel Technologies transitions the plant over to clean hydrogen.
Gov. Jim Justice announced Wednesday Pleasants Power is again producing electricity on the wholesale regional market. He made the announcement to fanfare and applause at the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce's 86th Annual Meeting and Business Summit at the Justice-owned Greenbrier Resort.
"For the first time, maybe the first time in this country, the Pleasant's Power Plant, a coal-fired power plant, is taking new life and it's taking new life right in front of our eyes," Justice said.
Justice was joined live by Pleasants County Commission President Jay Powell, standing in front of Pleasants Power and its smokestacks.
"Can you see the steam coming out of the smokestacks," Powell asked the governor and the crowd. "Today, we drove south on Route 2 with tears in our eyes. Thanks to (Justice), thanks to many in West Virginia and ultimately thanks to the good Lord, we're doing something that no one can say they've ever done before."
Omnis Fuel Technologies announced at the beginning of August the company had closed on its acquisition of Pleasants Power from Texas-based Energy Transition and Environmental Management. The plant, located south of St. Marys and Belmont near the Wood County border, has been renamed Quantum Pleasants.
The 1,278 megawatt coal-fired plant will eventually be retrofitted to generate electricity with hydrogen, a byproduct of a nearby graphite production facility Omnis is developing. The goal is to produce power with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
The project represents an $800 million investment in the state and could create a projected 600 jobs when completed. The transition is expected to take between 12 and 24 months.
Until then, Pleasants Power will burn coal, selling the electricity generated on the wholesale market to PJM Interconnection, the regional energy transmission cooperative serving 13 states and Washington, D.C., and other utilities. The plant directly employs 154 workers and thousands of temporary union workers during maintenance periods.
"Really and truly all people all across the board have really worked really hard to make this become a reality and everything," Justice said. "That's 150 jobs and that's an $800 million potential investment. As we move to show the world all the goodness that we can maybe do with hydrogen, coal, and whatever it may be...we're on the move."
The plant was first slated to be shut down in 2018, but deactivation was delayed to 2022. That deactivation deadline was put on hold again in 2019 thanks to a tax break approved by the Legislature.
Energy Harbor (formerly FirstEnergy Solutions) was leasing the plant from ETEM and was producing power up to the end of May and maintaining the plant through the end of June.