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Find complete coverage of the power plant’s development online only at www.journal-news.com/middletown-power-plant/ including past stories, renderings and other information about the project.
Tuesday’s groundbreaking for construction of NTE Energy’s approximately $645 million natural gas-fired power plant in Middletown arrived after two years were spent in the planning and permitting process.
Now, construction is expected to take just over two years before the plant is ready to burn gas and add electricity supplies to the region’s grid.
Florida-based NTE Energy will build the power plant near the intersection of Cincinnati-Dayton and Oxford State roads. Once Middletown Energy Center opens in 2018, it could produce about 500 megawatts of electric power year-round and provide a cleaner source of energy to the region’s electricity supplies, according to NTE.
“It burns natural gas, which will be brought to the plant through several pipelines that run through the area,” said Seth Shortlidge, chief executive officer of NTE Energy.
Middletown is one of the best sites in the country for power generation, Shortlidge said. NTE is also building natural gas-fired power plants in North Carolina and Texas and considering another Ohio site.
“We have the large power transmission lines that run through the site, two natural gas pipelines run through the site, the site has access to incredible water resources,” Shortlidge said.
In addition to creating new jobs in the city, the power plant will also give the city a competitive advantage for luring businesses, said Middletown Mayor Larry Mulligan Jr.
“(NTE) remained committed to seeing this project through,” Mulligan said.
Projections are that the equivalent of 200 full-time temporary construction jobs will be created, according to the city.
NTE has contracted Gemma Power Systems of Connecticut to build the facility, and Gemma will be working with subcontractors and Butler County Building Trades to perform the work, Gemma officials said.
Interested job seekers that aren’t already members of one of the Butler County Building Trades unions can contact the trades office for more information at 513-863-6115, said Chris Webster, business agent for Plumbers, Pipefitters and Mechanical Equipment Service Local Union No. 392. Electricians, pipefitters, boilermakers, cement masons and more skilled workers will be needed, Webster said. However, union applicants are not guaranteed the NTE Energy job and could be assigned other jobs the unions are performing, he said.
“We’re looking forward to working with Gemma,” he said.
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