By Autumn Shelton, RealWV
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – On day two of the 2025 Governor’s Energy Summit, held Nov. 12 -13 at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey made several major announcements regarding the state’s energy and manufacturing future.
In his most significant announcement of the day, Morrisey said that Kindle Energy, Blackstone, and GE Vernova have entered into a joint venture to bring a $1.2 billion natural gas-fired plant to Harrison County, which will deliver 625 megawatts of new energy generation capacity.
“Kindle Energy currently manages and operates 9.4 gigawatts of generation located in six states, soon to be seven,” Morrisey said. “Blackstone is the largest alternative asset manager with more than $1 trillion in assets under management. GE Vernova is technology, which includes 7,000 gas turbines, that helps generate approximately 25% of the world’s electricity.”
According to Morrisey, this venture will bring approximately 800 construction jobs to the area, as well as permanent jobs when the plant is complete, and does not require a state financial contribution.
Senior Managing Director for Blackstone’s private equity group, Bilal Khan, said that this investment will “build the state’s first ever natural gas power generation facility.”
“Energy powers our economy In West Virginia and throughout the county,” Khan said. “And, it’s critical that we meet the growing demand for electricity required to drive growth and innovation.”
Lee Davis, Kindle Energy’s CEO, added that his company’s role in the project “is to complete the development,” and that construction has been ongoing for about three months.
According to a Blackstone press release, the Harrison County power generation facility “Wolf Summit Energy,” will be a combined-cycle natural gas power plant.
“I am excited that the first-ever combined-cycle, natural gas power plant in West Virginia is being built using GE Vernova’s highly efficient and flexible 7HA.02 gas turbine that can provide capacity and energy for the rising AI and industrialization demands in PJM,” said Dave Ross, President & CEO, GE Vernova’s Gas Power business in the Americas. “We look forward to working closely with Blackstone to complete development and start construction of this important project for the community.”
During the summit, Morrisey also announced that Bidell Gas Compression will be making a $7 million capital investment, including a $1 million performance based loan from the state, into its Weirton facility.
“This investment’s gonna create 80 new manufacturing jobs in the northern panhandle,” Morrisey explained.
Bidell Gas Compression Manager John Chisholm added, “Bidell has been proud to invest in West Virginia since 2016, and we’re truly excited to take this next step by expanding our footprint with this new facility.”
“This growth represents more than just an investment in infrastructure. It’s an investment in the people and communities of West Virginia,” Chisholm said.
The next announcement from Morrisey was that Ergon, a petroleum refining company in Hancock County, is planning a $400 million expansion.
“For over seven decades, they’ve been delivering products and service solutions from locations across the globe, including from its refinery in Newell, West Virginia,” Morrisey said, adding that the company will be partnering with the state on its POWER Tech initiative – a workforce program announced during his first State of the State address in February.
Kris Patrick, Ergon CEO, said, “I think this is a great example of what can happen when the business community and our state, local and federal leaders promote a very healthy business environment.”
Patrick noted that the expansion will create about 25 new jobs, adding to its approximately 240 person existing workforce.
Morrisey also said that the state is working to extend the life of six coal-fired plants, and preserve 10.5 gigawatts of energy generation capacity, through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office.
According to Morrisey, the state is seeking a $1.44 million investment through low-cost loans to extend the life of these plants through 2050.
“We’re pushing for resources and President Trump has announced that he already has a $625 million fund, and it’s gonna grow beyond that,” Morrisey said.
“The work we’re doing focusing on the fundamentals of improving West Virginia’s economy is coming along, and coming along well,” Morrisey said, adding that tax rates, cutting red tape for an improved regulatory system and focusing on workers are some of those fundamentals.
Morrisey said that although his “50 by 50” initiative, a plan to increase the state’s current baseload generation capacity from 16 gigawatts to 50 gigawatts by 2050, is ambitious, these announcements, plus prior announcements regarding Diversified Energy’s $70 million well-plugging investment and FirstEnergy’s $2.5 billion initial investment for a 1,200 megawatt combined-cycle natural gas power plant, along with 70 megawatts of utility-scale solar, prove that progress is being made.
In the past four weeks, Morrisey has announced that West Virginia has secured nearly $4.2 billion in private-sector energy investments and more than 4,200 new jobs, but he said more is coming.
“We have a lot of work in front of us,” Morrisey said. “In the upcoming months, you’ll keep seeing efforts on a total strategic development plan, a natural gas strategic development plan, and a nuclear strategic development plan. To meet the ‘50 by 50’ target, we’re gonna have to leverage all of our energy resources and develop each of them to their maximum potential.”
“There is room for all forms of energy,” Morrisey stated, adding that in the next 60 days more energy and manufacturing announcements will be made.
“You have a lot of skeptics, you know, who want to do things the way they were done in the past,” Morrisey said. “We are not going backwards. West Virginia is going to soar, and we are going to do it based on the fundamentals.”