Pleasants Power Station Nearly Idle Amid Winter Surge In Demand

Despite record electricity demand in January, the Pleasants Power Station barely operated.

Two years ago, state lawmakers pushed to save the Pleasants Power Station from shutting down.

The plant went idle for a few months, but a buyer eventually stepped up, promising to continue generating electricity with coal, and eventually, hydrogen.

Since last summer, though, the plant has hardly operated at all, including during a cold snap in January that resulted in a record for electricity usage in the PJM region, which includes West Virginia.

Dennis Wamsted, an energy finance analyst for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, says it shows a plant that was in trouble in 2018 is still in trouble.

“It says to me, it’s not economic,” he said.

A $12 million a year tax break approved by the legislature and signed by then-Gov. Jim Justice in 2019 kept the plant running for another five years until Omnis Fuel Technologies stepped in.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting has reached out to the company for comment, and will include a response if one is provided.

Uncertainty about the future of Pleasants comes as the Trump administration has taken actions to prevent more coal-fueled power plants from shutting down.

West Virginia is also attempting to land more data centers, which require a lot of electricity, though few are powered by coal.

PJM, which includes 13 states and the District of Columbia, set a record for winter electricity demand on January 22 of 145,000 megawatts, breaking a record set in February 2015.

According to Wamsted, Pleasants ran under 5% of the time in January. The average coal plant in PJM operates close to 40%.