The engineering firm Gemma Power Systems LLC has received a notice to proceed with the construction of Virginia-based Moxie Energy LLC’s natural gas-fired power plant in Northeast Pennsylvania.

Gemma, a subsidiary of publicly traded Argan Inc., said construction on the 1 GW facility — located in Luzerne County’s Salem Township — would begin this year. The $800 million project is expected to employ more than 600 workers at peak construction and Gemma said it is expected to be completed in 2018.

In September, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection approved the facility’s air quality plan, which met the state’s emissions control requirements (seeDaily GPI, Sept. 22). It is owned by both Moxie and power producer Caithness Energy LLC. The plant would be connected to the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline and utilize Marcellus Shale gas to generate power that would be sold into the PJM Interconnection market.

Gemma’s announcement comes less than a month after Panda Power Funds LP said it secured $835 million in private financing to begin work on one of the nation’s largest coal-to-natural gas power conversion projects (see Daily GPI, Oct. 29). The 1,124 MW Hummel Station in Central Pennsylvania’s Snyder County is also expected to be in service by 2018.

Moxie sold its two other projects in Pennsylvania to Panda Power (see Shale Daily, Aug. 23, 2013). Those 800 MW facilities are already under construction by Gemma in Bradford and Lycoming counties.

The Freedom Power Generation Plant in Luzerne County has been designed to use two natural gas combustion turbines, heat recovery steam generators, steam turbines and generators.