A look back at the polar vortex

Remember back when TV weather forecasters didn't have to make up names for every storm or cold spell? Back when weather was a little less dramatic? Before the days of the Siberian Express, the Alberta Clipper or Superstorm Sandy?

Back in January, we in the Ohio Valley had the polar vortex. Why this cold snap needed a name when others that were colder or lasted longer didn't I'll never know. Anyway, one thing about this cold snap was that coal-fired power plants were put into service to meet the increased demand for electricity that comes with extreme weather (another TV term; forgive me).

The Energy Information Administration has released preliminary numbers for electric power generation in January. Here are how power plants along the Ohio River responded to the increased demand.


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Power generation and the polar vortex
Largest coal-fired power plants	Net generation, Jan. 2017 (megawatt hours)	Net generation, Jan. 2018 (megawatt hours)	Coal consumed, Jan. 2017 (tons)	Coal consumed, Jan. 2018 (tons)
Rockport	1,139,619	1,580,441	641,898	887,330
Gavin	1,622,442	1,349,758	625,188	534,642
Ghent	1,037,596	1,159,677	470,522	553,788
Cardinal	1,224,002	1,007,320	482,907	408,832
Mill Creek	874,367	862,041	399,771	396,931
Trimble County	787,080	821,258	351,653	356,791
FE W.H. Sammis	549,821	803,895	250,474	353,990
Mitchell	447,221	736,076	181,462	296,946
FE Pleasants	879,870	732,709	355,141	305,281
H.L. Spurlock	687,325	686,144	393,250	323,165
J.M. Stuart	323,370	646,514	149,068	291,677
Kyger Creek	374,891	606,532	158,405	257,259
Shawnee	687,432	524,120	416,996	331,437
Miami Fort	547,448	510,216	225,196	223,274
W.H. Zimmer	693,285	446,402	275,379	189,479
FE Bruce Mansfield	744,737	309,414	309,414	151,848
Coal total	12,620,506	12,782,517	5,686,724	5,862,670
Largest gas-fired power plants	Net generation, Jan. 2017 (megawatt hours)	Net generation, Jan. 2018 (megawatt hours)	Gas consumed, Jan. 2017 (Mcf)	Gas consumed, Jan. 2018 (Mcf)
Hanging Rock	584,087	807,663	4,724,141	5,590,063
Trimble County	65,623	149,154	752,938	1,581,539
Nuclear power plant	Net generation, Jan. 2017 (megawatt hours)	Net generation, Jan. 2018 (megawatt hours)
Beaver Valley	1,394,300	1,381,756
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Some coal-fired plants produced more power than they did in January 2017 while some produced less. You can look at the list and speculate about the reasons — an individual plant's efficiency; whether it had been running all-out before and there was little room for added output; operations affected by a planned retirement; etc. etc. etc. — but the numbers show the cold snap did not lead to an increase in the output of the plants as a group.

The two largest gas-fired plants, though, did pretty well.

Next up: A few more coal-related items.