Published: December 01, 2008 11:32 pm      

Allegheny buys land at high-tech park

Transmission headquarters to be open by 2011

FAIRMONT — Allegheny Power is making progress in the development of its new transmission operations headquarters.

Allegheny’s operations center, which monitors the flow of electricity year-round, is currently stationed in Greensburg, Pa., and will be relocated to Fairmont.

Allen Staggers, manager of corporate communications for Allegheny Power, said the company has achieved “two important milestones on the project.”

Last week, Allegheny Power closed with the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation on the sale of a 9.5-acre property in the I-79 Technology Park, he said. The company will build a brand new facility on the site, which will be the home of Allegheny’s multi-state transmission operations.

The building will have office space for approximately 150 new positions, which will be mostly professional jobs like engineers and planners, Staggers said.

This office will serve as the headquarters for the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line (TrAIL) and all of Allegheny’s transmission projects. Field offices will also be established throughout Allegheny’s service territory, he said.

Staggers said Allegheny Power had been considering creating a new transmission operations center because of reliability and security requirements from the federal government.

“Our current operations center really was not adequate, so we were contemplating a new facility anyway,” he said. “The construction of the new facility in Fairmont was a part of the agreement we entered into with the Public Service Commission for the TrAIL project. We think it’s an excellent site for our operations.”

West Virginia is part of Allegheny’s four-state service territory, and the company is currently working on two large transmission projects that cross many miles in the state. West Virginia is centrally located for these operations, Staggers said.

Allegheny Power also recently named Omni Associates of Fairmont as the architectural and engineering firm for the new headquarters. Omni will handle all the professional services necessary for the project.

“They’ll be the primary company responsible for the design of the building and handling many of the aspects throughout the construction of the building,” Staggers said.

He said construction is scheduled to begin sometime in 2009, and the facility is expected to open in June 2011.

E-mail Jessica Legge at jlegge@timeswv.com.