Huge Gas-Fired Power Plant to be Built in SW Pa.

A new, $17 billion natural gas-fueled power plant in Southwestern Pennsylvania was announced last week by the White House as part of a $550 billion joint strategic trade and investment agreement with Japan.

The facility, called Project Mon South, was one of three large energy projects announced as part of a summit meeting between President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Other projects announced include a $16 billion natural gas generation plant in Texas, and up to $40 billion from GE Vernova Hitachi to build small modular nuclear reactor power plants in Tennessee and Alabama.

The U.S. is struggling to meet rapidly rising demand for power and modernize its electric grid and connection regulations, as the number of power-hungry data centers continues to rapidly increase and electrification of industrial processes moves forward. With the U.S. seeking to become dominant in artificial intelligence, the importance of affordable energy plays a central role in meeting technological advances and national security interests.

The investments “target critical energy infrastructure and expand domestic power generation through advanced nuclear and natural gas hubs, stabilizing prices for Americans and making energy more affordable,” a U.S. Department of Commerce release indicates.

The Mon South project will provide 4.3 gigawatts of natural gas-fired generation capable of serving up to 3.5 GW of large-load demand. It will be fueled by existing natural gas pipelines from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays that span much of the state. For reference, 1 gigawatt can power about 700,000 homes.

The plant will be built and operated by NextEra Energy Resources, the largest electric power and energy infrastructure company in North America.  There was no location or timeline given for the project, which will connect to the PJM Interconnection regional grid, which serves 13 Mid-Atlantic states, including Pennsylvania. PJM is struggling to bring new generation online fast enough to meet rising demand, and has wholesale power prices spike, which has led to increasing residential utility bills.

NextEra will also build and operate the $16 billion Texas plant, named Project Anderson, which will be part of  Texas generation hub and provide up to 5.2 GW of natural gas-fired generation capable of serving up to 5 GW of large-load demand.

“Our hub strategy is designed to scale quickly and support rising demand while strengthening America's energy security - without increasing electricity costs for American households,” said John Ketchum, chairman, president and CEO of NextEra Energy, in a release.

“The company's hub strategy is built on the value of scale. NextEra Energy currently has close to 30 hubs in its inventory at various stages of development and is working toward a target of approximately 40. The company believes that its hub strategy can reduce development timelines and execution risk—helping customers keep costs low while meeting growing power demand,” the release continues.

The small modular nuclear reactors, (SMRs), which will cost up to $40 billion and generate 3GW of power, are next-generation nuclear technology and are just entering commercial deployment. Because they are smaller and self-contained, they can be sited on locations not suitable for larger nuclear power plants. Prefabricated units of SMRs can be manufactured and then shipped and installed on site, making them more affordable to build than large power reactors, and can be deployed incrementally to match increasing energy demand.