Mitsubishi Corp. subsidiary Diamond Generating Corp. is in the early stages of developing what would be one of New Jersey’s largest power plants, proposing to build a 1,200 MW natural gas-fired facility in Hudson County.

The North Bergen Liberty Generating Project plans to sell electricity into the wholesale market. The facility would be in North Bergen Township in an industrialized part of the Meadowlands, a patchwork of wetlands in the northeastern part of the state.

The $1.5 billion project would include the combined-cycle plant and a 6.5-mile, 345 kV cable that would travel underground through New Jersey’s Hudson and Bergen counties before crossing the Hudson River to a Consolidated Edison substation in New York City. The plant would tap the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line for gas supplies.

Diamond filed last summer with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for an air quality permit. The company, which would need other regulatory approvals, also still has to buy the 15-acre parcel in North Bergen.

Other gas-fired facilities are under construction in both New York and New Jersey that could replace the 2,311 MW of generating capacity that will be lost when Entergy Corp.’s Indian Point facility north of New York City is deactivated starting in 2020. Some have faced staunch opposition from environmental groups.

It’s unclear how Diamond’s project would be received by public officials. Media reports indicate that township officials support the project, but Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration has signaled strong support for more renewable energy resources. The NJDEP is also currently fighting the PennEast Pipeline project, which would move 1 Bcf/d of shale gas from northeastern Pennsylvania to New Jersey.