Could This Coal Plant Run On Gas? Yes, Executive Testifies

Appalachian Power is at least considering a conversion of two West Virginia power plants from coal to natural gas.

That’s what a company executive told the Virginia State Corporation Commission in recent written testimony. The John Amos and Mountaineer plants in West Virginia supply power to Appalachian Power’s Virginia customers and burn a lot of coal produced in the region.

But the region also produces a large amount of natural gas, which has become the preferred fuel for generating electricity nationwide and in the states surrounding West Virginia.

And new federal regulations for carbon dioxide emissions could encourage the switch.

Robert Jessee, Appalachian Power’s vice president of generating assets, told the Virginia commission in August that gas was a “viable option” to help the plants meet new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emissions requirements, should they survive legal challenges.

“The company is currently exploring the compliance options available under the new EPA regulations,” Jessee said. “Converting the units to natural gas, or refueling them, is currently a viable option. It is my opinion that these plants are potential candidates for refueling, and that there are not any reasons known to me at this time that would preclude this option.”

A Common Conversion

As recently as 2021, the West Virginia Public Service Commission had approved other environmental compliance upgrades that would keep them operating through 2040 as coal plants.

In addition to regulatory changes, the economics of generating electricity have shifted in favor of natural gas and renewables, and away from coal.

Seth Feaster, an energy analyst for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, says such conversions are common and not difficult to do.

“These kinds of conversions have been done all over the place,” he said, “and they’re common enough that I think that it’s not a big reach for this plant, or these both of the plants, to actually get that done in a relatively short period of time, once they get approvals.”

No plant in West Virginia has been converted from coal to gas, but it has happened in nearby states, and within the territory of American Electric Power, Appalachian Power’s parent.

That includes the Big Sandy plant in eastern Kentucky and the Clinch River plant in Virginia. The West Virginia PSC approved the Clinch River conversion in 2014.

Charlotte Lane, chairman of the West Virginia PSC, said her three-member commission had not been advised by Appalachian Power that a conversion was under consideration for the Amos and Mountaineer plants.

Lane said the company would need the commission’s approval for a conversion of the plants. 

“It is likely that those facilities would require extraordinary engineering and significant cost,” she said in a written statement.

Karen Wissing, an Appalachian Power spokeswoman, said the company “continues to look for the most efficient options to power progress and business growth.”

That may or may not involve converting coal plants to natural gas, she said.

“Before this can even be considered,” she said in an email, “we need further exploration and coordination with regulators to determine if it would be in the best interest of customers and the state.”

Reliability Questions

One sure opponent of any attempt to convert the plants: West Virginia’s coal industry. The state remains the nation’s second-leading coal producer besides Wyoming and its power plants are still a big customer.

The coal industry has deep historical and cultural resonance in the state, and many elected officials are committed to its survival. Gov. Jim Justice amassed his wealth in the coal business and has been one of its biggest defenders.

Chris Hamilton, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, said his organization had not been made aware of Appalachian Power’s Virginia testimony.

He said the proposal would have negative economic consequences for the state’s coal producing areas.

“Converting Amos and Mountaineer to gas would effectively kill thousands of mining jobs throughout West Virginia along with hundreds of rail and river transportation and coal handling jobs,” Hamilton said in an email. “The net effect would also be to fuel these two coal facilities with less reliable energy from possible out of state sources and create added retrofit costs to be shouldered by consumers.”

The industry and its allies have made a steady pitch for coal’s reliability: If you always have a supply ready on site, the plants can run when they’re needed.

Gas, on the other hand, is supplied by pipeline and could be vulnerable to disruptions. 

Cutting Emissions

Yet thanks to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, West Virginia has an abundant supply. It is the nation’s fourth-leading producer, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“West Virginia is in a pretty enviable position here,” said Rob Jennings, vice president of natural gas markets for the American Petroleum Institute. “And so you’ve got the gas you need right there.”

Helping meet emissions requirements works in favor of gas, Jennings said.

“When you switch from coal to natural gas in a power plant, you reduce your emissions by about 60 percent – between 50 and 60 percent, depending on the efficiency of the coal plant and the efficiency of the new gas plant,” he said. “So that’s really the biggest benefit.”

In addition to cutting carbon emissions, gas plants produce no sulfur dioxide, which can form acid rain and must be removed with devices called scrubbers. It emits less nitrogen oxide, which forms smog. And it avoids the disposal costs of coal ash, which can contaminate groundwater if not handled properly. 

Gas, though, still emits carbon dioxide. The production and transportation of gas emits methane, an even more powerful planet-warming gas than CO2.

Gas as a substitute for coal generates some opposition where coal has a lot of support, Jennings said. 

“But I think maybe the larger place where you tend to see resistance to this is from the environmental side,” he said.

Rising Costs

If EPA’s rules prevail, existing coal and new natural gas plants will have to capture 90 percent of their CO2 emissions within a decade, or shut down.

Environmental groups would prefer to see Appalachian Power’s coal plants retired and replaced with renewables like wind and solar, and battery storage.

Sooner or later, the company will have to make a decision on the future of its West Virginia coal fleet.

Appalachian Power’s West Virginia coal plants, which include Amos, Mountaineer and the Mitchell plant, half owned by Kentucky Power and Wheeling Power, have operated less than half the time in recent months and have lost money when they did run.

Appalachian Power executives testified to the West Virginia PSC over the summer that the plants had too much coal on site, so it was burned to manage the supply, even when it was not economically justified.

The plants are aging, and that increases the cost of operating and maintaining them. Mountaineer began operating in 1980 and Amos and Mitchell in the early 1970s.

Electricity rates, meanwhile, have been on the rise. In August, Appalachian Power asked the West Virginia PSC to increase them 17 percent for residential customers, or about $28 a month. The PSC dismissed the case on a technical issue, but heard an outcry from residents and elected officials.

Feaster says the plants might be at a tipping point, where it becomes more attractive to run them on gas instead of a fuel long associated with the state.  

“You may want to support the coal industry in the state, but if it’s going to raise costs for ratepayers,” he said, “then it starts to become an increasingly challenging proposition to come up with the money that supports keeping it a coal plant.”

Curtis Tate / West Virginia Public Broadcasting