Numbers, resources don't add up in Morrisey 25-year plan for coal-led energy buildout

“The big question is who pays, and who is on the hook if these investments don't pan out,� Brendan Pierpont, electricity modeling director at San Francisco-based climate policy firm Energy Innovation LLC said in response to Morrisey’s plan.

The plan calls for a fossil fuel-led effort in West Virginia to help the U.S. compete with more prolifically power-producing China and meet an expected sharp rise in national energy demand. Morrisey set a goal for West Virginia to increase its current, roughly 15-gigawatt capacity to 50 gigawatts by 2050.

“We’re not going to ignore the many vast natural resources that we have,� Morrisey said at his speech at the Oglebay Resort Wednesday evening.

Morrisey said West Virginia would work with the federal government to pursue new coal-fired generation, a rarity in West Virginia and the U.S. this millennium as market forces have made renewable energy, whose technology has proven simpler, cheaper and easier to install.

The governor, who — as attorney general — fought federal environmental policies designed to reduce fossil fuel pollution, said West Virginia officials are working with utilities, coal companies, the state’s own coal-friendly Public Service Commission and the federal government to develop a plan to upgrade the state’s fleet of aging coal-fired plants.

Morrisey claimed upgrades would make the plants more efficient, more economical to run, and ensure they generate stable baseload power — the minimum amount of power needed over a given period at a steady rate — “for decades to come.�

The state is coming up with 25-year strategic development plans for each of its energy sources, Morrisey said.

The U.S. is roughly 12 years removed from its last large (greater than 100 megawatts) coal-fired plant coming online in 2013, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In February 2025, the EIA projected planned retirements of U.S. coal-fired electric generating capacity would increase this year, with 4.7% of the total U.S. coal fleet that was in operation at the end of 2024 slated for retirement by electric generators.

“Nobody has built a coal plant in the US in almost 15 years — and there's a reason why,� Pierpont said. “They're not economically competitive, they're expensive, complicated engineering endeavors that are prone to cost overruns and delays, and there is major risk that these assets are stranded the day they come online as renewable energy, energy storage and even gas are able to provide power and grid capacity at lower cost.�

Sean O’Leary, senior researcher at Ohio River Valley Institute, a nonprofit think tank that has advocated for the region to accelerate its pivot to cleaner energy sources, called Morrisey’s 50-gigawatts-by-2050 plan for West Virginia “uneconomic since we have better, more reliable, and less expensive options available."

West Virginia had just under 15.9 gigawatts of nameplate capacity, or maximum rated output, available among operating generators in July 2025, according to EIA data. Of that capacity, nearly 13.1 of it, or 82.3%, was comprised of steam coal.

But of West Virginia’s roughly 3.2 gigawatts in operating generator capacity added since 2000, the same length of time in which Morrisey hopes to add 35 gigawatts by 2050, almost 1.2 gigawatts were comprised of solar, onshore wind, batteries and hydroelectric power sources.

All of West Virginia’s roughly 0.5 gigawatts added since 2015 has consisted of hydroelectric, batteries, onshore wind and solar power, according to EIA data.

The roughly 233% West Virginia capacity increase by 2050 Morrisey has called for dwarfs the 50%-plus by which a report prepared for the National Electrical Manufacturers Association and published in April 2025 projected national electricity demand would grow in that time frame. 

Although Morrisey wants West Virginia to rely on coal, gas and nuclear baseload power to meet his goal, that’s not the combination of resources waiting to come online in West Virginia’s energy interconnection queue.

Solar comprised 31% of West Virginia’s queued capacity as of May 2025, according to data from PJM Interconnection LLC, the regional grid operator that covers West Virginia and all or parts of 12 other states and the District of Columbia, with natural gas comprising 42%.

Solar, storage (including batteries that can store renewable energy and release it later) or a hybrid of both, plus wind comprised 71% of projects in transition in PJM’s regional grid-wide interconnection queue in June 2025.

PJM has cautioned that replacing thermal resources like coal with renewable generation may get more difficult as the energy transition advances.

But last year, PJM estimated that even if state and federal energy goals were accelerated and carbon-free power served 93% of annual energy, only 79 gigawatts of flexible thermal resources would be needed to maintain resource adequacy across PJM’s 12-state-plus-District-of-Columbia region — little more than double the 35 gigawatts by which Morrisey wants just West Virginia to increase its capacity in 25 years.

Even in its projected energy goal-acceleration scenario, PJM said policies would dictate adding large amounts of renewables and storage, making the fossil fuel-fired buildout envisioned by Morrisey unlikely to happen and a significant financial liability for electric ratepayers if it does.

Rising coal and gas costs loom over Morrisey plan 

Pierpont estimated that West Virginia’s coal plants cost nearly 40% more to operate in 2024 than just three years earlier.

West Virginia ratepayers faced a 90% climb in average residential electricity retail prices from 2005 to 2020, per U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Only Michigan had a greater increase by percentage. West Virginia’s share of electric power derived from coal-fired plants has been by far the nation’s highest in recent years.

Pierpont attributed West Virginians seeing bills rising faster than the national average in part to the state’s coal plants, citing an increase in the costs of getting coal out of the ground and delivered to power plants.

Energy Innovation found in a 2023 report that 99% of the existing U.S. coal fleet was more expensive to run than it would be to replace it with new solar or wind. Replacing coal plants with local wind and solar would save enough to finance nearly 150 gigawatts of four-hour battery storage, over 60% of the coal fleet’s capacity and generate $589 billion in new investment across the U.S., Energy Innovation predicted.

The cost of new gas plants also has been climbing substantially.

A report published this month by GridLab, a Berkeley, California-based clean energy policy firm, found that gas-fired power plant construction costs are being driven by price increases for nearly all key components of projects, including turbines. The report found that elevated costs are likely to persist instead of decline, at least in the short-to-midterm, driven by demand and order backlogs and growing supply scarcity.

West Virginia is a net exporter of electricity to other states, creating more power than it consumes. Pierpont observed that much of the demand growth for data centers, whose rise Morrisey cited to defend his 50-gigawatt-by-2050 goal, is happening in Virginia and Ohio.

“This isn't about building new resources to serve West Virginia customers,� Pierpont said, “it's about building to serve demand in other states.�

If West Virginia builds out generation and PJM’s energy demand grows slower than expected or solar and energy storage can more cost-effectively meet swelling demand, Pierpont fears West Virginia ratepayers would be on the hook for further bill increases.

“West Virginians cannot afford to keep footing the bill for corporations,� said Shawn Phillips, utility justice coordinator for West Virginia Citizen Action Group, a progressive advocacy organization. “We already subsidize aging coal plants — adding new coal, gas or nuclear facilities on top of that burden is exploitation.�

Morrisey's dim view of solar compared with other energy 

Morrisey downplayed the potential for solar to give West Virginia a power boost, citing the state’s relatively low average annual sunlight hours and what he asserted was limited flat land availability.

In 2019, public data content platform Stacker ranked West Virginia 32nd out of 50, higher than neighbors Ohio and Pennsylvania, on a list of the nation’s sunniest states, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. 

A 2020 report authored by Morgantown-based environmental consulting firm Downstream Strategies, The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit, and West Virginia University College of Law’s Center for Sustainable Development, estimated central Appalachia had 400,000 acres of former mine lands and other brownfields that could meet minimum site suitability requirements for large-scale solar. 

The report asserted that if that land area were used for solar development, it could double the total solar capacity that had been installed in the U.S.

MAREC (Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition) Action, representing 50 companies building new electric generating capacity in the region and responding to Morrisey’s 50-gigawatt goal, said in a statement it “stands ready to deliver a true all-of-the-above energy strategy that keeps power affordable, reliable, and homegrown.�

Evan Vaughan, MAREC Action executive director, contended in a statement that pairing renewables like wind and solar with traditional power plants could “protect families from rising costs, strengthen the grid, and keep more energy dollars at home for West Virginians.�

Utilities respond to Morrisey's plan outline  

When asked how feasible new coal-fired generation is for Appalachian Power and affiliate Wheeling Power in West Virginia, Appalachian Power spokesperson Karen Wissing said the companies have “sufficient generation capacity to meet our customers' needs.�

“Maintaining our existing resources remains a priority for us,� Wissing said in an email.

Wissing said a request for proposals for renewable resources in West Virginia has had “minimal responses� to date compared with other areas within PJM’s footprint.

Asked about the feasibility of Morrisey’s 50-gigawatt goal, Wissing said there’s “an abundance of natural resources located within West Virginia that positions the state well to build out new generation.�

FirstEnergy applauded Morrisey's announcement. 

"Reflecting our commitment to West Virginia’s continued growth and success, we are exploring the addition of new dispatchable generation to complement our existing plants and help meet rising electricity demand," FirstEnergy spokesperson Will Boye said in a statement.

West Virginia Coal Association president Chris Hamilton hailed Morrisey’s 50-gigawatt goal, calling it “the most consequential target West Virginia has set in a generation.�

Hamilton said “[t]he path runs through� House Bill 2014 and “a national return to reliable, affordable baseload power, with coal at the center.�

HB 2014, legislation requested by Morrisey and passed by the West Virginia Legislature in April, is designed to attract data center development to the state by fast-tracking the regulatory process, slashing regulations that were designed to give local governmental agencies say in their development.

The new law reached beyond data center regulation to favor fossil fuels for all industrial development, especially coal, by requiring utilities to maintain generating units to allow them to be able to self-generate and achieve at least a 69% capacity factor criticized by consumer advocates as uneconomic. A capacity factor is a measure of how often a plant runs at full capacity.

HB 2014 has drawn the ire of community advocates and local government leaders by prohibiting counties and municipalities from enforcing or adopting ordinances, rules or regulations that limit creation, development or operation of any certified microgrid district or high-impact data center project. It would divert most of the property tax revenue those projects generate away from local taxing bodies, a move estimated to cost counties and school districts millions.

Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia president Charlie Burd welcomed Morrisey's plan in a statement, calling the state's natural gas "the fuel of our future" and saying he was "encouraged by his support to finally utilize more of our in-state gas production."

West Virginia is the nation's fourth-largest natural gas producer. 

China's global energy dominance through renewables 

Morrisey framed his power goal as a response to China positioning itself to lead the world in data center development and path to blocking the flow of critical data to China.

But China’s global energy dominance has driven not by the fossil fuel-fired growth Morrisey favors but a rapid expansion of renewables. China commissioned as much solar energy in 2023 as the entire world did in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.

An $890 billion investment from China in clean energy sectors in 2023 was almost as large as total global investments in fossil fuel supply that year, constituting the largest driver of Chinese economic growth, according to Carbon Brief, a global climate news and analysis website.

“For all the talk of competing with China on AI, it's ironic that the governor doesn't mention China's current solar revolution, which is helping power the country,� said Quenton King, West Virginia Environmental Council vice president.

Morrisey dismisses doubt about his goal

Morrisey said “there are people expressing doubt� about his "50-by-50 goal."

“But I want to ask all of you, what do you think we should do?� Morrisey said. “Should we stand by idly and do nothing? Or should we seize the moment and drive forward?�

Critics of Morrisey’s plan say it relies on electric ratepayers’ pockets to extend the state’s coal-fired energy status quo — with the lights turned out on science and common sense.

“The state has a huge opportunity to invest in the energy resources of the future,� Pierpont said, “instead of the energy resources of the past.�