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Morgantown Generating Plant

Coal power plant in Virginia, United States of America. Approximate location 38.3592, -76.9767.

CoalVirginiaUnited States of AmericaCO₂ reported

Morgantown Generating Plant is a 1,548 MW coal power station in Virginia, United States of America. It is operated by GenOn Mid-Atlantic LLC. Based on reported annual generation of 1,737 GWh, it can supply roughly 496,371 homes. It ranks #148 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1970, it is around 56 years old — an older, legacy facility. Its measured emissions of 471 t CO₂/yr (US EPA GHGRP) are equivalent to about 110 cars driven for a year. 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).

1,548MW installed capacity
1,737GWh reported / yr
496,371homes powered
471t CO₂ / yr (US EPA GHGRP)
1970commissioned (~56 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0001573.

471 t CO₂/yr — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

110passenger cars driven for a year
61homes' yearly energy use
7,850tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; emissions reported to US EPA GHGRP.

Reported generation trend

2013: 3,911 GWh20132014: 6,181 GWh20142015: 4,245 GWh20152016: 4,754 GWh20162017: 2,530 GWh20172018: 2,523 GWh20182019: 1,737 GWh20196k GWh

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

Owner

Operated by GenOn Mid-Atlantic LLC. 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 humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 38.4°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

13.9°Cannual mean temp
2,138heating degree-days (base 18°C)
661cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
11 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 2 °CJF: 4 °CFM: 8 °CMA: 13 °CAM: 18 °CMJ: 23 °CJJ: 25 °CJA: 24 °CAS: 21 °CSO: 15 °CON: 9 °CND: 4 °CD25 °C

Heating degree-days here run 13% below 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: 45/100 — 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 #62 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 38.3592, -76.9767 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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