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    FirstEnergy adds Solar to Coal-Fired Power Station in West Virginia

    Jan. 8, 2024
    About 50,000 solar panels are generating renewable energy at the site, which is expected to produce up to 18.9 MW of solar energy at capacity.
    Fort Martin solar project under construction. Screen grab courtesy of video about project.
    Fort Martin solar project under construction. Screen grab courtesy of video about project.

    FirstEnergy’s subsidiary Mon Power has completed its solar site at the approximately 80-acre Fort Martin coal-fired power station in Maidsville, West Virginia.
    About 50,000 solar panels are generating renewable energy at the site, which is expected to produce up to 18.9 MW of solar energy per hour. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association estimates, 1 MW of solar energy powers a national average of 173 homes.
    While the project’s solar panels, racking systems and supporting electrical equipment were manufactured in the U.S., Mon Power appointed more than 100 local union workers from the Morgantown and Parkersburg areas to complete the project.
    The solar site is among the five solar sites Mon Power and its sister company Potomac Edison have planned to help strengthen the region's energy mix. The five sites together are expected to generate up to 50 MW of renewable energy.
    The West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) approved the companies' request to construct the Fort Martin solar site and two other sites in Rivesville, Marion County (5.5 MW) and Marlowe, Berkeley County (5.7 MW). The two additional sites are expected to be completed by the end of 2024.

    See a video of the Fort Martin Solar Project

    The companies anticipate to receive final approval from the PSC to build the additional two solar sites in Davis, Tucker County (11.5 MW), and Weirton, Hancock County (8.4 MW) by the end of 2024, once customers subscribe to the energy produced by them. Construction of these two sites is projected to be completed by the end of 2025.
    The Fort Martin coal-fired power plant includes two generating units totaling close to 1.1 GW in capacity. Previous news reports noted that the station’s end-of-life date is projected at 2035 or earlier.
    West Virginia currently ranks near the bottom for installed solar capacity in the U.S., according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Automaker Toyota has installed 2.6 MW of solar at its facility in the state, while other investors are exploring low and no-carbon generation projects for data centers.

     

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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