A clean energy project that developers say will create hundreds of construction jobs is scheduled to get underway in southern Columbiana County today.

South Field Energy LLC will hold a groundbreaking ceremony this afternoon for a new 1,182-megawatt, combined-cycle natural gas electric generating facility on 20 acres of land about three miles outside Wellsville.

State-of-the art technology is designed to make the $1.1 billion plant an efficient and environmentally-friendly natural gas electric generating facility.

The development of the site will employ approximately 1,000 construction workers and 25 full-time employees upon completion in mid 2021.

Once in operation, South Field Energy will sell capacity and energy into PJM, the largest regional transmission organization within the United States.

Avanced Power, which is behind the project, announced on Tuesday that it has sold a 15% membership interest in South Field Energy Partners LLC to ENEOS Power USA LLC, an affiliate of JXTG Nippon Oil and Energy Corporation, a leading oil and energy company in Japan.

"This investment by JXTG, one of Japan's largest oil and gas, energy and metals companies, is another vote of confidence in Advanced Power and South Field Energy, which is designed to be among the cleanest, most efficient and most reliable low-carbon electricity producers of its kind," said Thomas Spang, Advanced Power's CEO.

In addition to South Field Energy, Advanced Power also developed, financed and now manages the approximately 700 MW Carroll County Energy project in Carroll County, Ohio and approximately 1,100 MW Cricket Valley Energy project in Dover, New York.

The South Field project is not the Valley's first natural gas generating facility.

The Lordstown Energy Center has been generating 940-megawatts of power since its opening on Henn Parkway last fall.

Clean Energy Future LLC plans to break ground this summer on 945-megawatt plant near the existing Lordstown plant.