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Power Plants in the Mid-Atlantic Region
Power plants are a major contributor of air pollution. Nationwide, they contribute the majority of sulfur dioxide emissions (see National Summary of Sulfur Dioxide Emissions) and more than a third of greenhouse gas emissions (see Percentage CO2 from Fossil Fuels by Sector for States/Region/Nation). This page provides information on power plants in the Mid-Atlantic region (EPA Region 3), including their location, fuel used and percentage contribution of power generation by fuel types. All data on this page is based on 2005 data provided by eGRID (for more detail see note below).
- Map of Power Plants in the Mid-Atlantic Region
- The Primary Fuel of Power Plants in the Mid-Atlantic Region and its States
- The Percent Power Generated by Power Plants in the Mid-Atlantic Region and its States
Map of Power Plants in the Mid-Atlantic Region
Note: the facility locations are approximations only.
About the data: source of data used for this map is eGRID which comes from facilities that provide power to the electric grid and report data to the U.S. government. eGRID integrates many different federal data sources on power plants and power companies, from three different federal agencies: EPA, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Abbreviations:
NOx - nitrogen oxides
SO2 - sulfur dioxide
CO2 - carbon dioxide
CH4 - methane
N2O - nitrous oxide
Hg - mercury
MW - megawatts
> - greater than
< - less than
The Primary Fuel of Power Plants in the Mid-Atlantic Region and its States
As can be seen in the following table, the number of power plants burning coal, oil and natural gas are roughly equal in the region as a whole and in many of the states. Oil dominates in the District of Columbia and Virginia whereas coal dominates in West Virginia. But as can be seen below, the picture changes when one looks at percent power generated rather than numbers of plants.
| State | Coal | Oil | Gas | Other Fossil Fuel | Nuclear | Water | Landfill Gas | Municipal SW Biomass | Wind | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DC | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| DE | 4 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| MD | 9 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 36 |
| PA | 39 | 31 | 31 | 4 | 5 | 17 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 151 |
| VA | 19 | 26 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 99 |
| WV | 18 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 34 |
| Grand Total | 89 | 74 | 63 | 6 | 8 | 52 | 16 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 335 |
The Percent Power Generated by Power Plants in the Mid-Atlantic Region and its States
While the previous table showed that the number of hydro plants is high - 52 in the region (most of them in Pennsylvania and Virginia) - as can be seen in the table below these plants only produce 1% of the power in the region. In contrast to that, even though coal plants make up only 27 percent of the region's total in terms of numbers, these coal plants tend to be much larger so they produce 62% of the power.
| State | Coal | Oil | Gas | Nuclear | Hydro | Municipal SW Biomass |
Wind | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DC | 0% | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 100% |
| DE | 59% | 15% | 20% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 6% | 100% |
| MD | 56% | 7% | 4% | 28% | 3% | 1% | 0% | 1% | 100% |
| PA | 55% | 2% | 5% | 35% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 1% | 100% |
| VA | 45% | 5% | 10% | 35% | 0% | 3% | 0% | 1% | 100% |
| WV | 98% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 100% |
| Region | 62% | 3% | 5% | 26% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 1% | 100% |
Legend
Carbon-based Fuel (triangle):
Large Coal, >300 MW (43 plants)
Small Coal, <300 MW (46)
Large Oil (5)
Small Oil (69)
Large Gas (30)
Small Gas (34)
Other Fossil Fuel (6)
Black liquor (5)
Municipal solid waste biomass compound (11)
Landfill Gas (16)
Digester Gas (1)
Wood, wood waste (0, 4)
Clean Fuel (dot):
Water (52 plants)
Nuclear (8)
Wind (7)
Solar Array (0)