Mountaineer Power Plant facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mountaineer Power Plant |
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Chimneys, seen from Sutton Township, Meigs County, Ohio
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| Country | United States |
| Location | Mason County, near New Haven, West Virginia |
| Coordinates | 38°58′42″N 81°56′08″W / 38.97833°N 81.93556°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | September 1980 |
| Owner(s) | American Electric Power |
The Mountaineer Power Plant is a large power plant in West Virginia, USA. It's located near New Haven. This plant burns coal to make electricity. It is owned by a company called American Electric Power (AEP).
The plant has some really tall chimneys. One of them is about 336 meters (1,102 feet) high. This chimney was built in 1980. It is not used anymore. A slightly shorter and wider chimney replaced it. This new chimney helps clean the air from the plant. It uses special equipment called electrostatic precipitators and scrubbers. These devices remove pollution from the smoke.
The Mountaineer Plant can make about 1300 megawatts of electricity. A megawatt is a huge amount of power. It's enough to light up many homes. The plant's machines can actually make more power. But some of that power is used to run the plant itself. The plant recycles its cooling water. This means it uses the same water over and over. However, it still needs about 20,000 US gallons (75 cubic meters) of fresh water every hour. This "make-up" water comes from the Ohio River. It replaces water that turns into vapor and leaves through the cooling tower.
How the Plant Works
The Mountaineer Power Plant burns a lot of coal. It uses about 9,000 tons (8,200 metric tons) of coal every day. Some of this coal arrives by barge on the Ohio River. Barges are large boats that carry goods. The plant has a special area to unload and store the coal.
Other coal comes from a place called Big River Mining. This is an underground coal mine located right across the street from the plant. The coal is dug up, cleaned, and then sent to the power plant. It travels on a special conveyor belt system.
This plant has one main boiler and two large turbines. These parts work together to create electricity. The plant makes enough energy to power a city about the size of Columbus, Ohio. The electricity then travels through very powerful lines. These are 765 kilovolt transmission lines. They are the highest voltage lines used in the United States.
Where is the Plant Located?
People often say the plant is in New Haven, West Virginia. But it's actually just outside the town. The plant sits on land that used to be called Graham Station. Another AEP plant, the Phillip Sporn plant, is also nearby. These two plants now cover most of the old Graham Station area. That's why Graham Station is not often mentioned as a location anymore.
Past Plans for Cleaner Energy
There were plans to add new technology to the Mountaineer Plant. This technology would use chilled ammonia to capture carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a gas that can cause pollution. The idea was to turn this gas into a liquid. Then, it would be injected deep into the ground.
This project would have been the first of its kind. It aimed to capture and store carbon from an existing power plant. A small test project was built. It successfully removed a lot of carbon dioxide. It took out between 100,000 and 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The plant usually releases about 8.5 million tons each year.
AEP and the company that made the technology, Alstom, spent a lot of money on this idea. They spent about $100 million. However, the project was stopped in 2011. This was because there was less support from the government for clean coal technology.
