CARROLLTON – Chestnut Run Energy wants to build a large natural gas-powered electric plant in Carroll County.
State hearings have been scheduled for the proposed $2 billion project.
The 30-acre facility will be southeast of Mobile Road NE and Cobbler Road NE on 240 acres of privately owned land in Washington Township and located a little over a mile northeast of the existing Carroll County Energy plant. It will produce about 1,300 megawatts of electricity or enough to power up to 900,000 homes, according to Chestnut Run Energy. By comparison, Carroll County Energy is a 700-megawatt facility on 77 acres along state Route 9 northeast of Carrollton.
The Ohio Power Siting Board will host a public hearing at 6 p.m. May 21 at Carrollton Elementary School to collect public testimony regarding Chestnut Run Energy’s proposal. The state board issues certificates of environmental compatibility and public need, which are required to build a major utility facility in Ohio. An evidentiary hearing is scheduled for June 3 in Columbus.
Chestnut Run Energy LLC is owned by an affiliate of Boston-based ArcLight Capital and is being developed by the privately owned Advanced Power, a global company with North American offices in Boston and Houston. Chestnut Run Energy applied in November to the Ohio Power Siting Board for approval to construct the plant.
“The purpose of the project is to generate electricity for delivery and sale to the electric transmission grid,” according to the pre-application letter from Michael J. Settineri, an attorney at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Columbus. “The project will utilize two state-of-the-art gas turbines with each turbine having a heat recovery steam generator and a steam turbine generator.”
ArcLight declined to comment on Chestnut Run Energy plans.
Darrell Shafer, a Washington Township trustee, said in an email that he has attended a few meetings with power plant, school district, and county representatives but has not yet received significant information about the project. He said the local entities have retained legal counsel for an enterprise zone agreement requested by Advanced Power.
Construction is expected to begin late this year, with operations starting in mid-2030, according to chestnuterunenergy.com. The project is expected to create about 500 construction jobs and 20 full-time jobs once the plant is operational.
The company hosted two public information meetings in December at Carrollton Elementary School and has posted information about the project on the website.
Key highlights include:
Reach Kelly at 330-580-8323 or kelly.byer@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Chestnut Run Energy to build large electric plant in Carroll County
Reporting by Kelly Byer, Canton Repository / The Repository
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