Mitchell Plant
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Mitchell Plant is an operating power station of at least 1632-megawatts (MW) in Moundsville, Marshall, West Virginia, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Mitchell Plant | Moundsville, Marshall, West Virginia, United States | 39.838189, -80.818103 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1, Unit 2: 39.838189, -80.818103
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | operating | coal: bituminous | 816.3 | supercritical | 1971 |
| Unit 2 | operating | coal: bituminous | 816.3 | supercritical | 1971 |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Kentucky Power Co [50%]; Wheeling Power Co [50%] | American Electric Power Co Inc [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Kentucky Power Co [50%]; Wheeling Power Co [50%] | American Electric Power Co Inc [100.0%] |
Plant Ownership
On February 2, 2012, AEP subsidiary Appalachian Power said the utility will soon file paperwork with state and federal regulators to buy two 800 megawatt Mitchell units from its parent, AEP.[1]
In november 2013 it was reported that Kentucky Power would buy a 50% stake in the plant from Ohio Power Company to replace the capacity lost due to the closure of Unit 2 of the Big Sandy Plant. [2]
American Electric Power is looking to sell Kentucky Power to Liberty Utilities. Liberty Utilities is owned by Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp and includes the Empire District Electric Company after a 2017 acquisition. Liberty Utilities will continue with the exit from the Mitchell Plant in 2028. After the deadline Wheeling Power will take full control of the power plant with the intention to operate the plant untill 2040. Liberty Power has the intention to invest heavily in Renewables to replace the Mitchell capacity and the lost of capacity from Kentucky Power's contract for 390MW capacity from Rockport Plant.[3][4]
Lawsuit over capacity factor directive
In August 2024, the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit against the Commissioners of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia (PSC) over their 2021 directive requiring the Wheeling Power Company to operate the Mitchell Plant at a capacity factor of 69%. The directive also applied to the Appalachian Power Company's Amos Plant and Mountaineer Plant. The lawsuit argued that the commissioners’ directives sought to ensure a more significant role for the two utilities in the wholesale market, a matter they argued was solely the role of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Sierra Club suit stated that the seven-year average capacity factors for the plants were 55% or lower, and argued that requiring a higher capacity factor forced customers to pay higher prices.[5][6]
Retirement plans
According to AEP’s 2022 annual report, the Mitchell Plant had a projected retirement date of 2040.[7]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 8,478,000 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 53,152 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions:
- 2005 Mercury Emissions:
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Mitchell Plant
In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants.[8] Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.[9]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Mitchell Plant
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 51 | $380,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 83 | $9,100,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 780 | $41,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 38 | $900,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 30 | $13,000,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 39 | $14,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Coal Waste Sites
Kammer and Mitchell plants ranked 28th on list of most polluting power plants in terms of coal waste
In January 2009, Sue Sturgis of the Institute of Southern Studies compiled a list of the 100 most polluting coal plants in the United States in terms of coal combustion waste (CCW) stored in surface impoundments like the one involved in the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill.[10] The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.[11]
Kammer and Mitchell together ranked 28th on the list, with 1,372,687 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.[10]
"High Hazard" Surface Impoundment
Mithcell Plant's Fly Ash Pond surface impoundment is on the EPA's official June 2009 list of Coal Combustion Residue (CCR) Surface Impoundments with High Hazard Potential Ratings. The rating applies to sites at which a dam failure would most likely cause loss of human life, but does not assess of the likelihood of such an event.[12]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ "Appalachian Power to buy 2 W.Va. AEP plants" AP, Feb. 2, 2012.
- ↑ "Kentucky Power Now Owns Half of Mitchell Plant" coalage.com, November 22, 2013.
- ↑ "Algonquin could sell assets to fund Kentucky Power, transmission acquisition" SPglobal.com, November 12, 2021
- ↑ "PSC: Mitchell Plant Can Stay Operational Until At Least 2040" The Intelligencer.net, October 13, 2021
- ↑ “Amid rate hikes for consumers, Sierra Club Challenges West Virginia PSC's Costly, Uneconomic Coal Directive,” Sierra Club, August 22, 2024
- ↑ “Sierra Club Challenges PSC Directive In Campaign To Curb Coal,” WV Public Broadcasting, August 23, 2024
- ↑ “2022 Annual Report,” American Electric Power, March 2023
- ↑ "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
- ↑ "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool," Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Sue Sturgis, "Coal's ticking timebomb: Could disaster strike a coal ash dump near you?," Institute for Southern Studies, January 4, 2009.
- ↑ TRI Explorer, EPA, accessed January 2009.
- ↑ Coal waste
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
