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High Costs for Constructing the Plant Would Reach West Virginians’ Energy Bills
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Sierra Club submitted Direct Testimony on Friday in the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) case for Mon Power’s proposed $2.48 billion, 1,200 MW combined cycle gas plant. The plant, according to the utility, would be built adjacent to the existing Fort Martin coal plant without first retiring the facility’s aging, inefficient coal units.
Mon Power proposed building the 1,200 MW gas plant to address a 116 MW projected shortfall in 2029. The shortfall is expected to grow to 1,083 MW in 2045 due to one speculative data center. Notably, a contract has yet to be signed between Mon Power and the data center developer, meaning the data center and its demand could never materialize. While Mon Power anticipates the plant will largely serve one 1,000 MW data center, the $2.48 Billion cost of constructing the gas plant will fall on residential customers.
Mon Power is asking the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) for “abandonment authority,” which would place West Virginians on the hook for all costs, even if the plant is never built. The gas plant would also double the amount of pollution in surrounding communities.
