A private company on Tuesday unveiled plans for an $800 million electric power plant in Carroll County.
Carroll County Energy LLC intends to build a 700-megawatt plant that would be powered by natural gas from Ohio’s Utica shale.
That is enough generation to provide electricity to 700,000 houses.
Carroll County has about 29,000 residents.
The announcement about the new plant came on the same day that Akron-based utility FirstEnergy Corp. announced it would be deactivating two of its coal-fired plants in Pennsylvania — a 1,170-megawatt plant and a 370-megawatt plant. FirstEnergy said the costs to comply with current and future environmental regulations and continued low market prices for electricity were blamed for the closures, which will affect 380 jobs. One of the plants, Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station in Masontown, Pa., last fall was under consideration to retrofit to use natural gas in addition to coal, but those plans have been scrapped.
The new Carroll County plant would be built on a 77-acre site that is a half mile east of state Route 9 and 2.5 miles north of Carrollton. It is adjacent to land owned by the Carroll County Community Improvement Corp.
The plant’s footprint is 17 acres. The site is now part of a 233-acre farm.
The plant will provide up to 500 construction jobs and will employ 25 to 30 workers when completed.
Construction would take two to three years.
“With Ohio electric needs continuing to grow and some 5,800 megawatts of conventional coal-fired power plants scheduled for retirement by the end of 2015 in Ohio, Carroll County Energy will help fill our generation needs with clean American natural gas,” said Jonathan Winslow, the company’s project manager.
The company, a subsidiary of Boston-based Advanced Power Services, has an agreement with General Electric to develop the Ohio plant using GE’s gas turbine technologies.
The plant will capture waste heat to generate additional electricity.
It will produce 50 percent of the carbon dioxide and less than 10 percent of the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that would have been produced by a coal-fired plant, the company said.
Winslow said the company is completing environmental studies and will soon be seeking the needed permits.
The company is planning several community open houses in the coming months to outline the plans to Carroll County residents.
Carroll County is the No. 1 drilling county in Ohio.
Advanced Power Services has developed more than 9,400 megawatts of electric power.
Reporter Betty Lin-Fisher contributed to this report. Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.