$13 billion power plant proposed in Fayette County

Sep 9, 2026 By Garrett Neese 4 min read

Residents will have a chance next week to talk with representatives from the company looking to operate a $13 billion power plant project being discussed in Fayette County.

NextEra Energy Resources is developing the proposed 3.75-gigawatt plant, which would be located in Luzerne Township along a former mining site on the Monongahela River.

NextEra was selected for the development in March as part of a larger trade agreement between the U.S. and Japan for energy infrastructure development across the country. It received federal funding for the buildout at the Fayette County site through the U.S. Department of Commerce in August.

The proposed facility, named the East Riverside Energy Center, includes three combined cycle natural gas power plants on 700 acres at a former mining site in Luzerne Township. Due to the topography of the site, the footprint of buildable land will only be about 150 acres, said Alec Mazzuco, senior project manager for NextEra.

An eventual end user for the power generation will be selected by the Department of Commerce and Japanese government, Mazzuco said.

“It’s a potential large load and industrial use for it, but it’s unidentified right now,” Mazzuco said. “But the actual interconnection for the project will be bringing the energy from the power plants onto the local grid in the PJM region.”

That user could be anywhere within the PJM electric grid. But because of those building constraints at the site, whatever user relies on the plant will not be located at the East Riverside complex, Mazzuco said.

It’s the largest proposed project in Fayette County’s history, said county commissioner board Chairman Scott Dunn. The base load power being injected into the grid, coupled with the enhanced grid in Fayette County, opens the door to additional economic development, he said.

“The scale of this project is something that I don’t think we really imagined could happen here, so we’re very proud that this is coming here,” he said. “We worked hard behind the scenes to try to put Fayette County in a very good light in front of NextEra. Hopefully, they saw that, and that played a part in their decision-making process.”

Dunn said the property had not been one that was on the county’s radar for economic development, and the county offered no tax incentives for development. Instead, the process began with NextEra approaching local landowners.

NextEra anticipates the project will create 2,000 construction jobs and 100 operational positions, and also create additional economic benefits through purchases from local suppliers and contractors.

An open house regarding the East Riverside Energy Center is scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 15 at Brownsville Area High School, 1 Falcon Dr., Brownsville.

In a set-up Mazzuco likened to a science fair, there will be stations positioned where residents can talk with subject matter experts across the project, from engineers, environmental team, permitting consultants and procurement people.

“Our anticipation is to have kind of a rolling sequence of people coming through,” he said. “That way, we can be engaged at a smaller setting.”

In a rarity for NextEra, it will only serve as the developer and eventual operator, as the project will be owned by a special-purpose vehicle co-owned by the American and Japanese governments, Mazzuco said.

“All the electrical infrastructure, the generation equipment, will be funded through the federal government, and so it shouldn’t impact the ratepayers of the utility,” he said.

Since March, NextEra has been working on environmental site assessments, water table studies, geotechnical reports and other steps to gauge the feasibility and environmental impact of the plant, Mazzuco said.

NextEra is hoping to start construction in late 2027, with the plant coming online in phases between 2030 and 2032.

Preliminary estimates call for about 30 million gallons of water a day to be used for cooling, comparable to a small steel mill or other power plants in the area, Mazzuco said. Plans call for about a third of the water to be returned to the Monongahela River after it’s been treated.