West Virginia Coal & Coke Company Power Plant

The West Virginia Coal & Coke Company Power Plant was a 7,000 KW coal-fired electrical generation facility in Logan County, West Virginia.

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The Main Island Creek Coal Company opened underground coal mines along Island Creek in Omar in 1914-15 which grew to become one of the largest operations in the regional coalfield with a production of approximately 12,000 tons per day. ^{3 4} The company-owned community included 500 residences, dairy, and an ice-making plant. Initially, a 6,600-volt transmission line from an external power plant supplied electricity to Main Island Creek Coal’s facilities. ⁶

West Virginia Coal & Coke acquired Main Island Creek Coal in January 1925. ⁶ By 1934, the company employed 2,000 at its mines in Omar. ³

In February 1935, a new 7 MW power plant fueled by refuse coal from the Stirrat No. 19 mine went into operation in Omar. ⁶ It supplied lower-cost electricity to operations at Barnabus, Chauncey, Micco, Norton, Omar, Rossmore, and Stirrat, ⁵ saving West Virginia Coal & Coke $7,000 per month. ⁶ The facility featured two 2,300-volt turbo-generators that operated at 215 lb. of pressure and 100 degrees of superheat. ⁶ One generator from General Electric was rated at 3 MW while the other, a Westinghouse, was rated at 4 MW. Boiler room equipment included two Union Iron Works Type N water-tube boilers that were equipped with three-unit spreader-type Firite stokers. Condenser circulating water was cooled in a forced draft tower.

In 1954, Coal & Coke sought to withdraw from the coal mining business and focus on its barge operations along the Ohio River ¹ where it became known as the Midland Enterprises in April 1956. ² Its mining operations were sold to the A.T. Massey Coal Company and the mines were operated under its subsidiary Omar Mining Company, ^{1 4} with sales controlled by Midland. ⁴

In December, Massey closed its waste coal power plant at Omar. ¹

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Further Reading

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Sources

1. Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. ACORD v. COLANE COMPANY. 16 Nov. 2011. FindLaw.
2. “WEST VIRGINIA COAL & COKE CORPORATION.” West Virginia Secretary of State.
3. DellaMea, Chris. “OMAR, WV.” CoalCampUSA.
4. “A.T. Massey Coal Company, Inc.” Keystone Coal Buyers Guide, 1956.
5. “West Virginia Coal and Coke Corp.” Directory of Electric Utilities in the United States, 1941. p. 856.
6. Hale, Sydney A. “West Virginia Coal & Coke.” Coal Age, Dec. 1936, pp. 566-570.