Tenaska’s gas power plant tries to hire local
Hiring for the Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station is complete, with 75 percent of employees coming from Westmoreland County or adjacent counties, the company said Wednesday.
“One of our goals in staffing this plant was to hire qualified employees from the local community as much as possible,” Senior Vice President Todd Jonas said. “I’m proud to say we achieved that goal and, in the process, assembled an experienced team of employees that will be able to continue Tenaska’s record of safe and reliable plant operations.”
Last fall, Tenaska announced the hiring of plant manager Robert Mayfield, who had been the longtime plant manager of another Tenaska facility. The announcement was followed by a phased hiring process that first included management positions at the plant in December, then hourly employees in the first few months of 2018.
Total staffing for the plant is 24 employees — two from Smithton, 11 from Westmoreland County, seven from Allegheny and Fayette counties, and four from other Tenaska plants.
“Our team is eager to get to work,” Mayfield said. “Over the next several months, we will be going through specialized training and preparing for the plant to start operating at full capacity later this year.”
Construction of the natural gas-fueled power plant began in 2016, with direct construction costs of $500 million…..
