Pleasants Power Station officially owned by Omnis Technologies

PLEASANTS COUNTY, W.Va. (WTAP) - The California-based company, Omnis Technologies, is the owner of the coal-fired plant after a purchase according to officials.

Company president, Richard Hulme said the plant will be hydrogen-focused moving forward. Hulme said the plant will convert coal to hydrogen in a vaporizing process to create graphite. This graphite is in high demand for use in the batteries for electric cars.

Pleasants County commission president, Jay Powell said this purchase by omnis is huge for not only the county, but for West Virginia.

“The past 24 hours have been tremendous,” Powell said. “Certainly, we are so thankful this day’s finally come. A lot of time, a lot of effort; a lot of sweat, a lot of tears went into the efforts to make this happen. But, many people throughout the state of West Virginia and essentially worldwide. So, we’re very, very thankful today has come with the signing and the purchase of Pleasants Power Station by Omnis Technologies.”

Hulme said they will be able to keep jobs and even add more during this transition.

“As I’ve met with the workforce, for example yesterday, we had an all-hands meeting at the plant to announce that we had just closed on the transaction. Everybody was very excited about that. And they’re very interested in what new opportunities for personal career development this represents for them,” Hulme said.

Hulme said the plant will be going through a retrofitting process. Which should take roughly 12 to 24 months. Hulme said Zeeco — a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based combustion technology company — will be helping with the conversion process.

During this time, workers will be training for this new era of the plant.

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