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.