Pittsburgh-based IMG Midstream LLC has submitted an air quality permit application to Pennsylvania regulators for a small-scale 22 MW natural gas-fired power plant that it wants to build in the Northeast part of the state.

IMG wants to build the facility in Wayne County’s Berlin Township. It would generate power with three gas-fired internal combustion engines and process natural gas on site, where the company would install equipment to dehydrate it.

Founded in 2011, IMG develops, owns and operates distributed power generation plants. The company is backed by private equity firm Bregal Energy, which is focused on the North American energy sector and also counts exploration and production company Inflection Energy LLC among its portfolio companies. IMG has nine other projects in the works throughout the state.

Given the natural gas glut and a slow build-out of infrastructure to move it, distributed power generation has become increasingly important. Distributed facilities produce power on site or closer to end-users, compared to central power plants that distribute electricity over longer distances through transmission lines. Dozens of larger central gas-fired power plants have been proposed in Pennsylvania to utilize shale gas, but distributed power generation facilities are on the rise there and across the country (see Daily GPI, May 13).

IMG’s latest facility would sell electricity into the grid. Its plants are typically located on five acres and use just one acre for buildings and equipment. Building sizes average less than 8,000 square feet, and each site can generate at least 19.9 MW at full capacity, or enough to power 13,000 homes. Those facilities are also sited near natural gas production for ease of supply.

The company recently filed for its air quality permit and it is in the early stages of development of the proposed Wayne County facility.