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LORDSTOWN -- Work has already begun to prepare the Henn Parkway site of the more than $1.2 billion Trumbull Energy Center power plant, but Wednesday, investors joined local economic development, village school and elected officials to mark the facility's construction.
A private ceremonial groundbreaking was held, hosted by Trumbull Asset Management, the Mars, Pa.-based company formed by the project's equity investors -- Korea Southern Power Co., Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corp. and Siemens Energy's Power Development & Investments -- after the three acquired the project last year from developer Clean Energy Future.
"Those three companies are the owner of Clean Energy Future-Trumbull and the Trumbull Energy Center, and what they set up was a company called Trumbull Asset Management that is responsible for the construction and management of the day-to-day operations of the project once it becomes operational," Steve Remillard, chief operating officer for Trumbull Asset Management, said.
Clean Energy Future-Trumbull (CEF-Trumbull) was the Massachusetts-based company that owned the physical assets of the plant, Remillard said. CEF-Trumbull was owned by parent company Clean Energy Future, also of Massachusetts.
Tree clearing at the 23-acre site began in December, according to a document filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board. That is complete, Remillard said, with foundation work expected to begin soon.
Foundation work is scheduled to begin in June and end in December, according to the siting board document from Gemma Power Systems LLC, a Connecticut-based company that develops, designs, builds, commissions and operates large-scale power projects.
The overall construction schedule "looks great," and was aided by a mild winter, Remillard said.
"From the standpoint we started construction in November after we closed financing in 2022, we are on track for a January 2026 commercial operation date, when the plant will be turned on and go commercial and sell power to the grid," Remillard said. Lordstown Mayor Arno Hill, who attended Wednesday's ceremony, said the company still must come to the village for site plan approval "for a couple small things." Those include property setbacks, ingress and egress for safety vehicles and approval of parking spaces.
The groundbreaking also included ceremonial check presentations to the village and Lordstown Local School District.
The project received a 100 percent, 15-year tax abatement, but the company agreed to make payments in lieu of taxes to Lordstown Local School District and to the village. The district and village also will share income tax 50/50 from the power plant.
The district will receive an initial payment of $800,000 and about $1 million per year over 15 years.
Lordstown will receive about $450,000 per year over the three-year construction phase and then guaranteed payments each year over the 15-year period.
The power plant project secured funding in November, but getting to that point was a long and winding road filled with obstacles, including nearly two years of litigation involving property rights, the pandemic and bickering over whether Warren or the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District would supply water to the facility.
Also, because the majority owners of the plant are from overseas, the project needed approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is part of the U.S. Treasury that reviews certain transactions involving foreign investment in the U.S. to determine their effect on national security.
At peak construction, Remillard said the site would provide for more than 600 jobs. When the plant is operational, it will employ about 22 full-time workers.
The plant is being built on Henn Parkway near state Route 45 and adjacent to the Lordstown Energy Center, a similar power plant that opened in 2018.