Kindle Energy Breaks Ground on Blackstone-Backed $1.2 Billion Natural Gas Power Generation Facility in West Virginia

WEST VIRGINIA & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kindle Energy today announced it has broken ground at Wolf Summit Energy (“Wolf Summit”), a previously announced fully contracted, 600-megawatt greenfield combined-cycle gas turbine (“CCGT”) power generation facility in Harrison County, West Virginia backed by Blackstone (NYSE: BX), through funds affiliated with Blackstone Energy Transition Partners (collectively, “Blackstone Energy Transition Partners”).

Wolf Summit will be the first-ever combined-cycle natural gas power plant built in West Virginia and is designed to help deliver efficient and reliable power to meet the growing energy needs of Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC), which serves approximately 1.5 million residents across Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. The project is expected to create 500 construction jobs, as well as spur additional local economic development.

Lee Davis, Kindle Energy CEO, said: “Kindle Energy is excited to bring Wolf Summit to West Virginia to serve ODEC and generate efficient and reliable power supply across the region. We look forward to our continued partnership with Blackstone, ODEC, GE Vernova and the local community as we progress construction."

Bilal Khan, a Senior Managing Director, and Mark Zhu, a Managing Director, at Blackstone, said: “Today marks an important milestone in delivering affordable, new and efficient power generation to help meet rising electricity demand. We’re pleased to partner with local stakeholders to further advance this project, supporting jobs in West Virginia while strengthening reliable power supply for the region.”

“The addition of Wolf Summit to our power supply portfolio is a key step in meeting the long-term energy and capacity needs of our members,” said Chris Cosby, President and CEO of ODEC. “Securing generation in the same transmission zone where we serve load is designed to protect our members from transmission constraints and associated congestion costs, energy price spikes and capacity cost risks—while reinforcing the reliability of our entire generation fleet.”

Brian Ray, CEO of GE Vernova Financial Services, said: “We are proud to partner with Kindle Energy and Blackstone on the development and financing of Wolf Summit, which will help deliver more efficient and reliable power to meet growing electricity demand in the region. The project also highlights the strength of GE Vernova’s 7HA.02 technology and our ability to support customers across financing and energy equipment solutions.”

“Providing reliable energy is our duty as Americans. With the PJM grid requiring massive new generation to prevent blackouts, West Virginia is stepping up to the plate," said Governor Morrisey. "Wolf Summit Energy is a 600-megawatt solution that ensures 1.5 million people have the 24/7 baseload power they need. The Mountain State will always stand as the ultimate defender of American energy security.”

About Blackstone Energy Transition Partners

Blackstone Energy Transition Partners is Blackstone’s strategy for control-oriented equity investments in energy-related businesses, with a successful long-term record, having committed over $27 billion of equity globally across a broad range of sectors within the energy industry. Our investment philosophy is based on backing exceptional management teams with flexible capital to provide solutions that help energy companies grow and improve performance, thereby delivering more reliable, affordable and cleaner energy to meet the growing needs of the global community. In the process, we work to build stronger, larger scale enterprises, create jobs and generate lasting value for our investors, employees and all stakeholders. Further information is available at https://www.blackstone.com/our-businesses/blackstone-energy-transition-partners/.

About Blackstone

Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Blackstone seeks to deliver compelling returns for institutional and individual investors by strengthening the companies in which the firm invests. Blackstone’s $1.3 trillion in assets under management include global investment strategies focused on real estate, private equity, credit, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, secondaries and hedge funds. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and Instagram.