After nine years of planning and months of quarrels with environmentalists, Tenaska this week broke ground on its 925 MW Westmoreland combined-cycle gas power station. Operational start-up is scheduled for late 2018 when the CCGT is meant to help set a new cost of electricity standard for the PJM region.
The plant will be owned by Tenaska Pennsylvania Partners, involving affiliates of Tenaska and Diamond Generating., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi. “Tenaska has a nearly 30-year reputation for strong power projects that fit the needs of (the) market,” CEO Jerry Crouse said at the ground-breaking ceremony.
Diamond CEO Satoshi Hamada said the project demonstrates the commitment of the Japanese utility “to provide clean, flexible and reliable energy for local communities in competitive markets.”
Black & Veatch has been selected as the EPC contractor for the project, given its global expertise and assurances to provide the client with a single point of contact across all phases of the project. Hundreds of construction jobs have been created, which will be followed by up to 25 full-time operations jobs, Tenaska said.
Being built in South Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County the CCGT utilise two Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems’ M501J turbines and generators. The project includes a 500-kilovolt switchyard and switching station as well as 1.5 miles of power transmission lines that will connect it to the PJM grid.
As for project financing, Tenaska said earlier this year it had secured $780 million in debt capital banks including MUFG Union Bank., BNP Paribas, Citigroup and Bank of China. The 925 MW Westmoreland plant is the 18th project that the Nebraska-based company has developed since its founding in 1987. Tenaska said to date it has developed about 10 GW of electric generating capacity and has been involved in pre-financing of another 2,500 MW.