Panda Liberty Power Project
The Panda Liberty Power Project is a clean natural gas-fueled, 829-megawatt combined-cycle generating station. The plant can supply the power needs of up to 1 million homes and should infuse approximately $5.9 billion into the North Pennsylvania economy.
Liberty Power Plant Facility Facts
Location: Asylum Township; Bradford County, Pa.
Site Size: 33 Acres
Size: 829 Megawatts; Will supply the power needs of up to 1 million homes in Northern Pa.
Technology: Combined cycle
Fuel: Clean, natural gas
Air Permit Received: Oct. 10, 2012 and revised on July 9, 2013
Construction Start: August 2013
Construction Time: Approximately 30 months
Commercial Operation: 3Q 2016
Facility Status: Panda Power Funds exited the investment in 2020.
Liberty Power Plant Facility Highlights
The Panda Liberty Generating Station Will:
- Be the first new power plant in Pennsylvania specifically developed to take advantage of its proximity to the Marcellus Shale gas formation
- Contribute approximately $5.9 billion to the area’s economy during construction and the plant’s first ten years of operation
- Create approximately 500 construction jobs; 27 direct jobs to operate the plant and 45 indirect jobs to support the plant
- Utilize the latest, most advanced emissions-control technology, making it one of the cleanest natural gas-fueled power plants in the United States
- Use Siemens H-class gas turbines — the world’s first generation technology to achieve operating efficiencies of 60 percent.
- Be cooled with air rather than water — not drawing water from, or discharging water into, the Susquehanna River — eliminating potential impacts to sensitive species in the watershed
- Minimize sound using special blade designs, low-output motors and building enclosures
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Market Need
- More than 20 gigawatts of coal-fired power plant retirements have been announced to take place in the PJM (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland) market in the next few years, setting the stage for tightening reserve requirements
- More than 70 gigawatts of power plants in PJM average 56 years of age
- Total peak demand growth of over 1.4 percent per year, or approximately 2,200 MW per year
Construction and Technology Partners
Equity: Panda Power Funds and institutional co-investors
Debt: Lead arrangers – Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Ares Capital and Union Bank
Construction and Technology Providers
Siemens Energy Inc — one of the world's largest suppliers of turbine technology – will provide the power island package including the natural gas turbines, steam turbine and waste heat recovery boilers
Gemma Power Systems and Lane Construction — Gemma Power Systems, an “ENR Top 100” Design-Build Firm and Lane Construction, one of America’s leading construction companies, will be responsible for the engineering and procurement for the balance of the plant and the installation, construction and commissioning of the facility.
Contact us if you are interested in being a vendor or an employee for the Liberty project.
About Asylum Township, PA
Asylum Township is located just southeast of the center of the County. It is bound to the east by Standing Stone and Wyalusing Townships, to the southeast by Terry Township, to the southwest by Albany Township, to the west by Monroe and Towanda Township, and to the north by Wysox Township. The Susquehanna River serves as a major border for the Township flowing from the north to the southeast. Ellis, Durrell, and Bennett's Creek all flow throughout the township. A major thoroughfare for the township is State Route 187 as it runs from the north to the southeast.
Historically speaking, Asylum Township has one of the most interesting backgrounds in Bradford County. French refugees who fled from the French Revolution settled the village of Azilum. Nearly forty families erected the village, where they remained until around 1800, when a large portion of them returned to France.
It was during the French Revolution that loyalists of the King and Queen fled to escape exile and built French Azilum in the township. According to legend, Queen Marie Antoinette and her children were to join them in the New World. Louis Phillipe, who was to be the next King of France, and Talleyrand Phillipe visited the town. The town consisted of the 1,600 acres acquired and a town consisting of fifty or more structures. Today, the only existing structure is The LaPorte House built in 1836, by a son of one of the original settlers. However, there are log structures that are used as a Museum to exhibit the town's unique story.