New Projects - Gas

Pennsylvania’s largest coal plant likely to get new life as natural gas plant

The redevelopment company involved said it may also consider adding hydrogen and solar generation to the site in future projects.
Pennsylvania’s largest coal plant likely to get new life as natural gas plant
View of the former Homer City Generating Station in Pennsylvania (Source: NRG Energy).

The Homer City Generating Station, Pennsylvania’s largest coal plant that was decommissioned last year, is likely getting a new life as a natural gas plant.

At recent meetings in Center Township and Homer City, Homer City Redevelopment LLC Vice President (and former county commissioner) Robin Gorman said the company plans to convert the decommissioned plant to a natural gas facility, arguing that the change would allow the new plant to produce “at least double” its output as a former coal plant, the Indiana Gazette reports.

Gorman added that the company hopes new businesses would be attracted to the area by the increase in production, and it may consider adding hydrogen and solar generation to the site in future projects. For now, Homer City Redevelopment is focused solely on natural gas production, as that project will necessitate the “complete demolition and reconstruction” of the site’s infrastructure, according to the report.

Demolition is expected to kick off in February or March of next year, with an estimated project timeline of two years, Gorman said.

The 1,888 MW plant began generating electricity in 1969, when Units 1 and 2 entered service. Unit 3 was added in 1977. For 30 years, the plant operated almost continuously, achieving a utilization rate, called a capacity factor, near 90%.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the market landscape changed for the Homer City plant at the turn of the 21st century. New emissions standards for power plants under the Clean Air Act required the plant to install FGD scrubbers on Unit 3 in 2001 and on Units 1 and 2 in 2014. Pollution control upgrades in 2014 cost the plant owners a reported $750 million. Ownership of the plant changed after bankruptcy in 2017.

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Power Plant Operations Report

As more natural gas-fired plants were built, the Homer City plant was dispatched more for load following instead of for base load. EIA said this change increased annual maintenance costs for the Homer City plant, on top of the debt incurred from the pollution control upgrades. The Homer City plant was operated at an annual capacity factor of 82% in 2005, according to EIA data. The capacity factor dropped to 20% in 2022, contributing in the decision to retire the plant.