Company Wants to Reopen Hatfield’s Ferry as Natural Gas Power
Plant
Washington PA Observer-Reporter
7 March 2017
By Bob Niedbala
A New Jersey company is considering developing a natural gas power
plant at First Energy’s closed Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station in
Monongahela Township.
APV Renaissance Partners Opco LLC of Bernardsville, N.J.,
indicated in a public notice published in an area newspaper that
it intends to apply to the state Department of Environmental
Protection for an air quality permit for the plant.
APV Renaissance Partners plans to hold an informational public
meeting on the project from 5 to 8 p.m. April 5 in
Carmichaels-Cumberland fire hall, according to the notice.
A spokesman for the company could not be reached Tuesday for
comment. First Energy spokeswoman Stephanie Walton declined to
comment on the project.
“We continue to entertain offers for the purchase of the property,
but nothing is finalized at this time,” Walton said.
First Energy, which continues to own the Hatfield’s Ferry
property, closed the 1,710-megawatt coal-fired plant in October
2013 citing weak demand for electricity, low electricity prices
and the costs of bringing the plants into compliance with
environmental regulations.
The company early last year said it would conduct a long-term
study to determine whether it was feasible to reopen the plant
burning coal, a combination of coal and natural gas or only
natural gas.
The company also last year had proposed using a landfill at the
Hatfield’s Ferry plant to dispose of coal ash from its Bruce
Mansfield Power Plant in Beaver County. The company announced in
November that it would not dispose of the material at Hatfield’s
Ferry but instead would dispose of the material at a Marshall
County Coal Co. mine reclamation site in Moundsville, W.Va.