Q. What power sources are used to generate electricity in
WV? A. This table shows the capacity of power plants in West Virginia, as of 2009 :
Q. What fraction of the electricity generated in West Virginia from coal and natural gas is generated at power plants owned by West Virginia's utilities? A. About 40% Q. How about the wind farms? Where does their power go? A. The operating wind farms in West Virginia, Mountaineer and Mt. Storm, do not sell their power to West Virginia utilities. The Beech Ridge wind farm will sell power to Appalachian Power. Currently Appalachian Power sources all of its wind power purchases from wind farms in Illinois and Indiana. Q. What is the total amount of electricity generated in West Virginia? How much electricity is consumed in WV? A. In 2010, power plants in WV generated 79,000 GWh of electricity (excluding hydropower plants). About 31,000 GWh were generated at power plants owned by our utilities. WV utility customers used 30,000 GWh in 2009. Q. Where does the coal come from for West Virginia's coal plants? A. This table shows the amount of coal delivered to West Virginia power plants under long-term contracts (represents about 94% of coal delivered to power plants) in 2010:
Q. How much have residential electricity rates increased in recent years for West Virginians? A. The following table shows the utility rate increases for West Virginians in different utility areas.
Q. Which of West Virginia's coal plants are most at-risk of retirement under new air pollution regulations? How much capacity total? A. This table shows all coal plants in WV that are wholly or partially owned by WV utilities. Coal plants that are old and infrequently used (low capacity factor) and lack pollution-control scrubbers are most at-risk of retirement. Appalachian Power has already announced the retirement of some of its plants. The highlighted plants are old, small plants without pollution control equipment (scrubbers) that are likely candidates for retirement. They have a total capacity of 1.5 GW (about 20% of the total in-state coal capacity owned by WV utilities).
Q. Where can I find more information? A. Energy Information Administration: www.eia.gov Detailed information on power plants: www.eia.gov/cneaf/electricity/page/data.html American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy: www.aceee.org Energy Efficiency Resource Standards: www.aceee.org/topics/eers State Scorecard on energy efficiency: www.aceee.org/sector/state-policy/scorecard Replacing coal with efficiency: www.aceee.org/white-paper/avoiding-a-train-wreck Pew Center on Climate Change's State Policy page: www.pewclimate.org/states-regions The Power Line: www.calhounpowerline.com Energy Efficient WV: www.eewv.org WV Public Service Commission: www.psc.state.wv.us Search for cases: www.psc.state.wv.us/WebDocket/default.htm Sources for this FAQ: Energy Information Administration: Form 860 (power plant ownership data) Form 923 (power plant generation data) Form 423 (power plant coal contract data) West Virginia Public Service Commission: Rate cases: 07-0930 (Allegheny Power); 07-0248 (Appalachian Power); 11-0174 (Appalachian Power) Wind power purchase agreements: 07-1731; 07-1848; 08-1600; 09-0305 Alternative and Renewable Portfolio Standard cases (reference current power consumption): 10-1914 and 10-1912 Environmental Protection Agency National Electric Energy Data System version 4.10 www.epa.gov/airmarkets/progsregs/epa-ipm/BaseCasev410.html Mon Power and Potomac Edison current residential rates: http://www.alleghenypower.com/Tariffs/WV/Wvpetariffs/wvpetariff.asp |