Longview Power Plant

Longview Power Plant is the cleanest, most efficient coal-fired power plant in the 13 state PJM Interconnection and one of the most efficient by heat rate in the United States, producing 700 net megawatts of electric power. Located near Morgantown, West Virginia, the Longview Power plant’s best-in-class heat rate of 8,700 Btu/kwh far surpasses that of most other coal-fired power plants in the country. Longview’s advanced supercritical boiler, low cost fuel source, minimal water usage and other project efficiencies combine to produce the lowest cost of dispatch (delivery of electricity) of any coal-fired plant in the region.

The Longview Power plant includes a state-of-the-art air pollution control system that results in much lower emissions than its permit limits, which are among the lowest in the nation for coal plants. In addition, Longview emits significantly less CO2 than most other coal plants because of its high fuel efficiency.

The Longview Power plant is fully integrated with its source of fuel, and is designed to utilize run-of-mine coal, avoiding the added cost and environmental impacts of fuel preparation. Mepco, an affiliated fuel supplier, transports coal from its underground mine to Longview by a 4.5 mile conveyor that minimizes transportation costs and avoids the significant local impacts of trucking coal.

The Longview Power project cost approximately $2.0 billion –the largest private investment in West Virginia’s history. After the plant commenced operations in 2011, construction defects and major changes in the power markets lead to the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013. In early 2015 the company reached a comprehensive settlement of all construction claims, with two of its major contractors agreeing to remediate plant defects at their own expense. As a result, Longview Power emerged from bankruptcy in April 2015 with the full remediation of the plant underway and new ownership led by private equity firms KKR, Centerbridge, American Securities, and Third Avenue.

Longview and Mepco together provide high-paying jobs to over 600 employees. Longview and Mepco are dedicated to maintaining the health and safety of their employees, and consistently outperform national industry safety standards. Longview and Mepco strive to be good corporate neighbors and responsible stewards of the environment and stand behind their core values and mission, which include commitments to produce electricity economically and on an environmentally sustainable basis.

Longview’s strategy was the subject of a feature in a key industry trade, SNL Financial, “'Not your dad's coal plant': Longview aims to be a new breed of coal burner.” Additionally, its integration with Mepco was described in SNL Financial: “'It's going to be tough to beat us': Mine-mouth coal among Longview advantages.”

The company announced the completion of its 21-day reliability test in late 2015 that revealed the plant achieved a 99.5 percent equivalent availability factor — the power industry’s measure of reliability — while operating at 703 MW (net). The company expects to operate at 90 percent from this point forward.

The Wall Street Journal of January 11, 2015, states that coal, according to the Energy Information Administration, will still compromise around 30% of the fuel source of U.S. electricity by 2030. Longview and Mepco are described as exemplifying the new era in the coal and power industry. They operate at a profit in a challenging economy and provide employment for miners and power plant workers, producing electricity efficiently and using as many filters as possible to reduce carbon emissions, the article states.

SNL Financial, a key trade, reported April 21, 2016, on Longview’s 155 days of continuous operation during which it exceeded its operational metrics, with exceptional environmental performance and at an affordable cost.  Longview also used some of its fuel flexibility and took advantage of historically low natural gas prices and co-fired natural gas for up to 20% of unit heat input without any additional investment. Longview said its carbon dioxide emissions are about 15% below its peers and that it met its permit limitations despite having some of the most stringent in the nation. Longview was recently visited by both Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. Manchin stated the plant was an example of a cleaner future for coal-fired power.