Company proposed natural gas power plant
Notice: Undefined variable: article_ad_placement3 in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/single.php on line 128
A Bucks County company that develops and operates small natural gas-fired power plants has proposed building a plant in Greene County to take advantage of the abundance of Marcellus Shale gas.
Bayles Energy LLC, a subsidiary of IMG Midstream of Yardley, proposed constructing the plant at an existing industrial site in Greene Township.
The 20-megawatt plant, which will burn natural gas produced locally, will generate enough energy to serve about 13,000 homes, Kristi Gittins, spokeswoman for IMG Midstream, said in an email.
The plant is estimated to cost between $15 and $20 million and will take about nine months to construct. “We are still in the development phase but are targeting 2015 for commercial operation,” Gittins said.
IMG Midstream, formerly known as Iron Mountain Generation, is a privately-owned company that develops, owns and operates small-scale natural gas generation plants. It manages all activities required to bring a project from conception through completion, including construction, start-up and operation.
The Greene Township project will be able to connect to a natural gas transmission line on site, Gittins said. The interconnect with electrical transmission lines also will be on site, she said.
Bayles Energy applied to the state Department of Environmental Protection for an air quality permit for the plant in April.
The company has proposed using two “lean burn,” or low emissions, natural gas engines each producing about 9-megawatt of electrical power, said John Poister, DEP spokesman. The plant would be relatively small compared with, for example, the Hatfield’s Ferry Power Plant, which produced 1,710 megawatts.
The company’s air quality permit application is currently under technical review, Poister said.
Bayles Energy officials met with the Greene County planning office staff about four or five months ago to discuss requirement of the county’s land development ordinance, said Jeremy Kelly, Greene County planner.
Kelly said he has heard nothing from the company since then, but believes the company was waiting to receive an air quality permit from DEP before moving forward with the planning commission’s applications process.
IMG Midstream also has proposed constructing three other small gas-fired power plants in Pennsylvania, one each in Wyoming, Susquehanna and Clarion counties, and a fifth in West Virginia.