Qualla: Mount Storm Power Station

Mount Storm Power Station: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Drbuning, CC BY-SA 4.0. The water in Mount Storm Lake rarely drops below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, even when the air above it is well below freezing. That is because the entire 1,200-acre reservoir gets pumped through a power station and back roughly every two and a half days. The result is one of the strangest swimming holes in Appalachia: a warm-water lake in the high mountains of West Virginia, used by scuba divers and bass fishermen in February, surrounded by the coal-burning machinery that keeps it warm.

Image: Drbuning | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mount Storm Power Station: Three Units on a Ridge

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Mount Storm Generating Station sits on the west bank of Mount Storm Lake, two miles from Bismarck in Grant County, West Virginia. Three coal-fired generating units, built in 1965, 1966, and 1973, draw their fuel from the Appalachian coalfields, run high-pressure steam through...

Image: Famartin | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mount Storm Power Station: The Lake That Heats Itself

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0. Mount Storm Lake was created along the Stony River specifically as the power station's cooling pond. The plant withdraws roughly 234,000 gallons of water per minute, runs it through the condensers to absorb heat from spent steam, and discharges the warmed water back into the lake...

Image: Famartin | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mount Storm Power Station: Thermal Pollution and the Food Chain

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Drbuning, CC BY-SA 4.0. The same heat that makes the lake a winter attraction also disrupts its biology. Heated discharge raises water temperatures above what local aquatic species evolved for, a phenomenon ecologists call thermal pollution. Warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen than cold water, and ...

Image: Drbuning | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mount Storm Power Station: Part of a Bigger Energy Story

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was AlbertHerring at English Wikipedia., CC BY 3.0. Mount Storm sits at one of the more interesting energy crossroads in the eastern United States. The same ridge that hosts the coal-fired station also carries the NedPower Mount Storm Wind Project - 132 turbines spread across twelve miles of the Allegheny Front crest, generating u...

Image: The original uploader was AlbertHerring at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 3.0