- Combustion
- Operating
- 10 · 100 · 1,000 MW
Map
- Combustion
- Operating
Big Sandy: location. Basemap: Protomaps, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Big Sandy
Power plant · Gas, steam turbine
Key facts
Power plant · Gas, steam turbineran 49% of 2025 Operating- Capacity
- Capacity: sourceEIA-860M · Open licenseMW
- Commissioned
- 1963
- Net generation, 2025
- 1,206,248 MWh
- Grid
- 345 kV to Kentucky Power Co (PJM)
- Location
- Lawrence County, Kentucky
- Operated by
- Kentucky Power Co
Output
- Gas
- Coal
- Oil
Details
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- Technology
- Gas, steam turbine source: “Natural Gas Steam Turbine”
- Age
- 63 years since 1963
- Unused energy
- 1,251 GWh 2025Unused energyA lead, not a guarantee: MW × hours × (1 − capacity factor) for the latest year (EIA-923), gas, coal and oil plants only. Air-permit run-hour caps, heat rate (cost to run) and capacity-market or reliability obligations can rule it out.
- Heat rate
- 10,255 Btu/kWh 2025
All 6 attributes from EIA-860M Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| EPA greenhouse gas reporting (GHGRP) |
|
| Fuel burned (MMBtu), 2025 | 12,370,172 |
| Capacity factor, 2025 | 0.491 |
| Heat rate (Btu/kWh), 2025 | 10,255.1 |
| Net generation (MWh), 2025 | 1,206,248 |
| Balancing authority code | PJM |
Retirement
EIA-860M September 2026StatusSome generators have retired; the rest of the plant is still in service. As of EIA-860M for September 2026.- Capacity retired
- 816.3 MW
- Generators retired
- 1
- Capacity still in service
- 280.5 MW
| Generator | Technology | Nameplate | State | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Conventional Steam Coal | 816.3 MW | Retired | May 2015 |
Grid
EIA-860 2025Grid fieldsAs the plant reported them to EIA-860 for 2025 (Schedule 2).- Grid voltage at the plant
- 345 kV
- Transmission or distribution system owner
- Kentucky Power Co
- Balancing authority
- PJM Interconnection, LLC
- NERC region
- RFC
Transmission lines within 15 mi (10)
Can the connection be reused?
A plant that retires usually leaves its substation, transmission connection and interconnection agreement behind, and those may be reusable by a new project at the same site. FERC Order No. 845 lets an interconnection customer use surplus interconnection service at an existing site, and some transmission providers' tariffs let a replacement resource take over a retiring unit's interconnection service, usually within a set time after the retirement. Whether any such right still exists here, who holds it and on what terms depends on the owner, the transmission provider and timing; this page does not establish any of that.
Ownership
2 companies2| Company | Role | Share | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky Power Co | Operator | EIA-860M | ||
| AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER CO INC | Owner | 100.0% | Dec 31, 2023 | EPA GHGRP |
Timeline
- Stated Unit 2 scheduled to retire, 816.3 MW · EIA-860M
- In service · EIA-860M
Sources
5 sourcesSources EIA-860M · LBNL · EIA · EIA-860M Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory · EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program — facility register with parent-company shares (Envirofacts pub_dim_facility; FLIGHT)
Sources
- EIA-860M
- LBNLYin, Nait Belaid & Heleno (2026), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, OEDI, CC BY 4.0: A Harmonized Geospatial Dataset of U.S. Transmission Lines: Linking FERC Form 1 and HIFLD, 1994-2024. Modified by Inframation: HIFLD-side fields only, names re-cased, coordinates rounded.
- EIASource: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electricity bulk data (Form EIA-923 monthly plant series)
- EIA-860M Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory
- EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program — facility register with parent-company shares (Envirofacts pub_dim_facility; FLIGHT)