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FirstEnergy W H Sammis

Coal power plant in West Virginia, United States of America. Approximate location 40.5317, -80.6319.

CoalWest VirginiaUnited States of America

FirstEnergy W H Sammis is a 2,468 MW coal power station in West Virginia, United States of America. It is operated by FirstEnergy Generation Corp. Based on reported annual generation of 3,957 GWh, it can supply roughly 1,130,542 homes. It ranks #33 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1966, it is around 60 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, coal supplies about 16.3% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).

2,468MW installed capacity
3,957GWh reported / yr
1,130,542homes powered
1966commissioned (~60 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0002866.

~3,956,900 t CO₂/yr (estimated) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

922,354passenger cars driven for a year
516,028homes' yearly energy use
65,948,333tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Estimated, not measured: from reported annual generation × a typical coal emission factor (~1000 g CO₂/kWh, IPCC AR5 / US EIA). Actual emissions depend on plant efficiency and running hours.Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies.

Reported generation trend

2013: 12,406 GWh20132014: 11,921 GWh20142015: 8,843 GWh20152016: 8,112 GWh20162017: 6,220 GWh20172018: 4,767 GWh20182019: 3,957 GWh201912k GWh

Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by FirstEnergy Generation Corp. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 40.5°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

10.5°Cannual mean temp
3,025heating degree-days (base 18°C)
304cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
314 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -2 °CJF: -1 °CFM: 4 °CMA: 10 °CAM: 15 °CMJ: 20 °CJJ: 22 °CJA: 22 °CAS: 18 °CSO: 12 °CON: 6 °CND: 0 °CD22 °C

Heating degree-days here run 23% above the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.

Climate heat-demand index: 63/100 — this site sits in the mid third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.

In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.

Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #15 largest coal power plant of 286 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 286 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 249,149 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 40.5317, -80.6319 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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