Located in Wyoming County, Procter & Gamble’s largest U.S. manufacturing facility – home to toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, and diaper production – is powered by natural gas produced beneath its surface.
The Pennsylvania facility is the only location of P&G’s 150 manufacturing plants that’s 100% energy self-sufficient thanks to the natural gas produced from the Marcellus Shale nearly a mile beneath the surface.
Amid heightened paper products demand, it’s the Mehoopany plant, powered by shale gas, that’s “working in overdrive” to meet consumer needs.
Unconventional shale wells on the plant’s property were brought online in 2013 and produce the natural gas that fuels the plant’s advanced combined heat and power system.
“One of the post impressive – and unique – examples is the Procter & Gamble plant in Mehoopany where the company manufactures an array of products from their own Marcellus wells,” MSC President, Dave Spigelmyer, told lawmakers in 2017. “Prior to discovering that these reserves could fuel their business, the company was importing their gas from the Gulf Coast. Now they are benefitting from the cost-savings of being able to power their own operations.”
These state-of-the-art natural gas generators are similar to an airplane engine, producing up to 64 megawatts of electricity. Heat from the turbines is captured to dry paper products and the plant’s backup power supply is purchased locally – creating a self-sustaining loop of efficient, locally sourced, affordable energy.
In leveraging the local, abundant natural gas resources the company is realizing cost savings, reducing carbon emissions, and achieving sustainability goals.
Other manufacturing facilities, industrial sites, and hospitals throughout Pennsylvania have turned to local natural gas for reliable electricity and heating. The new Allegheny Health Network Wexford Hospital has a natural gas power generation facility that supplies all of the building’s heating, cooling and electrical needs. Lancaster General Hospital also built a natural gas power plant that provides the bulk of its electricity needs.
