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Show A recent trend in steam-plant construction is to locate large stations on major streams near the coal mines and transmit the power at high voltage to regional load centers. For example, at the Philip Sporn station on the Ohio River near Hunt- ington, W. Va., the initial units of a planned in- stallation of 750,000 kilowatts or more are now in operation. Another large steam-electric station is also planned by the same utility system in the Ka- nawha River Basin near Charleston, W. Va. The great quantities of water required by such stations for cooling purposes suggest another reason for pro- viding generous conservation storage capacities in upstream reservoirs for low-flow regulation in the interests not only of pollution abatement, water supplies, navigation, and hydroelectric power but also in the interest of large-scale steam-electric generation. In coordination with steam-electric plants, the hydroelectric plants constructed at multiple-purpose reservoir projects in the tributaries are particularly useful for peak-load use. Most of the available sites in coal-producing Pennsylvania and West Vir- ginia are suitable for peaking purposes, with steam- electric plants carrying the base and large energy portions of the load. Main stem hydroelectric plants can produce substantial amounts of energy but would not have the energy for system load-factor operation, and they, too, would be most valuable when operated in conjunction with steam. The use of hydroelectric plants in combination with steam plants would increase the effectiveness of the system power supply, and would result in economies of operation. Such savings passed on to the ultimate consumer would result in greater use of electricity, thus increasing demand for coal for steam-power production. Through such a chain of events in the Tennessee Valley, the de- velopment of hydroelectric power has brought about greater use of coal for power generation. Further- more, in the Tennessee Basin the demands for power are growing so rapidly that sufficient hydroelectric power sites are not available to meet the loads and steam-electric power is being relied on increasingly as an additional major power source. Conclusions In the Ohio River Basin the resources of coal, water, and hydroelectric power sites are available for establishing integrated power systems capable of supplying large amounts of economical power to the region. To a limited extent the present use is, and increasingly the future use of hydroelectric power will be, to supplement the steam-electric power which must always be relied on to supply the greater portion of the regional energy requirements. With such use it will be found that the development of hydroelectric power sites will afford such economies in the system power supply as to bring about in- creases in power demands and in the over-all sale and consumption of coal for power-production pur- poses. The continued waste of this inexhaustible source of energy cannot be considered as in the long- run interest of the region. It tends to retard the multiple-purpose development of the basin. 4. Hydroelectric Power in the Future Regional Power Supply The Problem The place of hydroelectric power in the future power supply of the region. The Situation As on other large uncontrolled rivers, only a relatively small part of Ohio River power resources can be developed economically until storage reser- voirs are built to regulate the river flow. Existing hydroelectric power plants in the Ohio Basin generate 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours in the average year. This is 4 percent of the electric power load in the Ohio Basin market area north of the Tennes- see Valley. The remaining 96 percent of the power supply is produced by steam-electric plants. In the region north of the TV A, power is sup- plied predominantly by private utility companies whose systems are highly coordinated through a number of power system pools, each comprising several systems. Two federally owned plants are in operation on the Cumberland River. When the authorized reservoirs and power plants are com- pleted, this river will provide nearly 3 billion kilo- watt-hours in the average year, only a small part of the region's power requirements. Cumberland River power is being marketed in the TVA electric system so that the integrated Tennessee and Cum- berland hydroelectric power will amount to about 18 billion kilowatt-hours annually. Additional steam plants are also being built to carry rapidly growing loads. The potential power that remains to be devel- oped on the main stem and tributaries of the Ohio 673 |
