Pleasants Power Plant sees $800M investment, expected to generate 600 jobs
August 30, 2023
White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. – An estimated 600 West Virginia jobs will be created due to an $800 million investment in the Pleasants Power Plant by Omnis Fuel Technologies, Gov. Jim Justice announced on Wednesday.
Omnis Fuel specializes in developing, licensing and commercializing innovative technologies to aid sustainable energy production, according to a news release from Justice’s office.
The coal-fired Pleasants Power Plant restarted production of electricity Wednesday morning, saving more than 160 West Virginia jobs, the news release stated.
“I am so excited to make this announcement today. For the first time ever, the Pleasants Power Plant, a coal-fired power plant, is taking new life right in front of our eyes,” Justice said in the news release. “Today, I am here to share with you that Omnis Fuel Technologies has re-started the Pleasants Power Plant on the grid today.”
Located south of St. Marys in Pleasants County, the plant currently employs about 160 workers. Once the expansion is complete, the plant will need upwards of 600 employees to operate, according to the news release
The news release said, as part of the expansion, the 1.2 gigawatt coal-fired plant will be retrofitted to generate electricity with hydrogen. The goal of producing power with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
“Omnis worked diligently with state and community leaders to maintain every job and ensure no employee lost even one hour of payroll during the recovery and restart of the power plant,” Omnis Fuel Vice President Michelle Christian said in the news release. “This is a historic moment, and we are proud to be part of helping West Virginia maintain critical power capability in the state and preserve 1.2 gigawatts of power-generating capacity, enough electricity to sustain one million homes.”
The news release stated that Omnis Fuel strives to make clean hydrogen and high-grade graphite from plentiful, low-cost hydrocarbons, leverage and retrofit existing power plant infrastructure, and enable high-density energy storage with low cost, abundant graphite.
“We drove down Route 2 with tears in our eyes as we watched the cooling towers producing,” Pleasants County Commission President Jay Powell said in the news release. “We also have the main stack producing now, too. Governor, thanks to you, thanks to the state of West Virginia and thanks to the good Lord above, we are doing something in West Virginia that no one else has done before. We can’t be more thankful than we are today.”
Omnis Fuel’s parent company, Ultra-High Temperature Quantum Pyrolysis (OQP), generates hydrogen fuel and utilizes the existing hydrocarbon supply systems and power plants to preserve jobs in current industries while generating additional employment in new clean technology markets, the news release said.
“Coal is such an important part of our economy and our state’s history, and Omnis will use coal to produce hydrogen, graphite and water vapor,” Justice said in the news release. “They are going to more than double the amount of coal they need to operate the plant annually.”
Story by Dustin Melchior, WCHS