Longview Power Plant

Longview Power Plant is the cleanest, most efficient coal-fired power plant in the 13-state PJM Interconnection and one of the most efficient in the United States,^[1][2] producing 700 net megawatts of electric power. Located near Morgantown, West Virginia, Longview has a heat rate of 8,700 Btu/kwh, surpassing that of other comparable coal-fired power plants in the country. Longview’s advanced supercritical boiler, low cost fuel, minimal water usage and other efficiencies combine to produce the lowest cost of dispatch (delivery of electricity) of any coal-fired plant in the region.^[3]

The Longview Power plant includes a new air pollution control system that results in emissions that are among the lowest in the nation for coal plants.^[4] In addition, Longview emits less CO2 than most other coal plants because of its fuel efficiency.^[5]

The Longview Power plant is fully integrated with its fuel source, utilizing "run-of-mine" coal, and thus avoiding the added cost and environmental impacts of fuel preparation. Mepco, an affiliated fuel supplier, transports coal from its underground mine to Longview by a 4.5 mile conveyor that minimizes transportation costs and avoids the local impacts of trucking coal.^[6]

The Longview Power project cost approximately $2.2 billion–the largest private investment in West Virginia’s history.^[7] After the plant began operations in 2011, construction defects and major changes in the power markets lead to the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013. In early 2015 the company reached a comprehensive settlement of all construction claims, and two of its major contractors agreed to remediate plant defects at their own expense.^[8] As a result, Longview Power emerged from bankruptcy in April 2015 with the full remediation of the plant underway and new ownership led by private equity firms KKR, Centerbridge, Ascribe, and Third Avenue.^[9]

The $120 million in improvements by Longview and its contractors has turned the facility into "the most efficient coal-fired power plant in the U.S.," as assessed by a key industry magazine, POWER, which awarded Longview its 2016 Reinvention Award.

The Wall Street Journal of January 11, 2015, states that coal, according to the Energy Information Administration, will still compromise around 30% of the fuel source of U.S. electricity by 2030. Longview and Mepco are described as exemplifying the new era in the coal and power industry. They operate at a profit in a challenging economy and provide employment for miners and power plant workers, producing electricity efficiently and using as many filters as possible to reduce carbon emissions, the article states.^[10]

SNL Financial, a key trade, reported April 21, 2016, on Longview’s 155 days of continuous operation during which it exceeded its operational metrics, with steady environmental performance and at an affordable cost. Longview also used some of its fuel flexibility and took advantage of historically low natural gas prices and co-fired natural gas for up to 20% of unit heat input without any additional investment. Longview said its carbon dioxide emissions are about 15% below its peers and that it met its permit limitations despite having some of the most stringent in the nation. Longview was recently visited by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. Manchin stated the plant was an example of a cleaner future for coal-fired power.^[11] Ernest Moniz, United States Secretary of Energy, also visited the plant.^[12]

References