Ohio's coal reserves
Ohio is a significant player in the coal industry, with substantial coal reserves that historically powered much of the state's electricity generation. In 2010, coal accounted for approximately 82% of Ohio's electrical energy, but this reliance has decreased over the years. By 2022, coal's contribution to electricity generation had fallen to 37%, while natural gas emerged as the dominant source, supplying 51% of the state's electricity. This shift was influenced by the adoption of a clean energy law in 2008, which mandated a gradual transition to renewable energy sources, aiming for 12.5% of electricity to come from renewables by 2025.
Despite its historical emphasis on coal, Ohio has been making strides in renewable energy development. The state has invested in wind, solar, and biomass energy, gradually increasing its renewable energy production. As of 2024, renewable sources accounted for about 4% of the state's electricity, with significant potential for growth. The energy landscape in Ohio reflects a broader trend of transitioning from traditional fossil fuels toward more sustainable energy solutions, amid ongoing discussions about environmental impacts and energy independence.
Ohio's coal reserves
Summary: Ohio is a relatively large and heavily industrialized state, located in the American Midwest; by population, it is the seventh-largest US state. Ohio is a coal-producing state.
The state of Ohio has significant coal reserves and is a moderate producer of coal. As a result, the state obtained about 82 percent of its electrical energy from coal in 2010, making it the nation’s second leading emitter of greenhouse gases. However, in 2008 the state legislature adopted a clean energy law that mandated that 12.5 percent of the state’s electricity must come from renewable sources by the year 2025. The state's reliance on coal fell dramatically during the 2010s and into the 2020s. By 2022, Ohio received 37 percent of its electricity from coal. Natural gas replaced coal in 2019 as the top electricity generator, producing 51 percent of the state’s electricity in 2022.
Ohio has long been at the center of energy development. It was the birthplace of Thomas Alva Edison (America’s leading pioneer in the development of electrical applications and transmission), as well as the incubator for the wind and oil-refining industries as they emerged during the 19th century. With its significant coal reserves, it relies on coal-fueled electricity. However, it is seeking to develop renewable sources as mandated by its legislature in 2008.
History
In 1862, John D. Rockefeller established the Rockefeller and Andrews Oil Company (later called the Standard Oil Company) in Cleveland, Ohio. By 1880, Standard Oil controlled more than 90 percent of America’s oil refining capacity.
Charles F. Brush, also of Cleveland, designed and built one of world’s earliest electricity-generating windmills. His engineering company built the windmill dynamo, which operated from 1886 until 1900. Mounted on a 60-foot tower with a 144-blade 56-foot rotor, this early wind turbine was only rated at 12 kilowatts.
Another early energy pioneer, Arthur Compton (a Nobel laureate from Wooster, Ohio), is credited with inventing the fluorescent light tube and was instrumental in the early development of nuclear energy.
Ohio also played a prominent role in the early development of the US oil and gas industry, and these energy sectors continue to influence the state’s economy. The first oil well drilled in North America can still be found in Caldwell, Ohio. Dug in 1814 by two pioneers looking for salt, it yielded crude oil that they sold as a digestive elixir. Since that first well, the state has drilled more than 273,000 additional wells, ranking it fourth in oil exploration behind Texas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. Ohio was the country’s leading producer of oil between 1895 and 1903. At its peak of production in 1896, the state produced 24 million barrels of oil. By 2024, production had dropped to about 93,000 barrels per day.
Natural gas was first discovered in 1887 in Clinton County. By 2024, the state produced about 2.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, with much of this production consumed within the state. A large segment of the eastern half of the state lies above the Marcellus and Devonian shale formations, thought to contain vast and largely untapped amounts of natural gas. Industry experts estimate the amount of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale at between 363 and 1,307 trillion cubic feet of recoverable resource, which would be enough to supply US consumption for fourteen years at the low end of the estimate and for as long as forty-two years at current rates of consumption. However, recovery of this resource relies on a technique known as hydraulic fracturing, which has raised considerable environmental concerns as well as resulting in significant groundwater contamination.
Electricity Generation
Ohio has a deregulated competitive electric power market. Several investor-owned electrical utilities provide much of the electricity consumed within the state. The remaining electricity is provided by various municipal electrical systems (not-for-profit, government-subsidized utilities that provide electricity largely within defined municipal limits) and rural electric cooperatives (consumer-owned cooperatives formed to ensure access to electricity for Ohio’s rural consumers). The investor-owned electrical utilities include FirstEnergy, American Electric Power (AEP), Duke Energy, and Dayton Power and Light (DP&L).
In 2024, fuel sources for Ohio’s electrical generation consisted of natural gas at 39,260 million cubic feet a day; coal, at 806,000 tons a day; and petroleum, at 32,000 barrels per day. Renewable energy sources provided for about 4 percent of the state's electricity. Coal used to be the source of the vast majority of Ohio's energy, but in 2019, natural gas overtook it, due in part to the beginning of drilling in the Utica Shale in 2011.
The energy generated from nuclear sources came from two power plants located in northern Ohio. The Perry Nuclear Power Plant began operations in 1987. A boiling-water reactor, it produced 3,758 megawatts of electricity. Built at a cost of $6 billion, it is one of the most expensive power plants ever built. The second nuclear power plant operating in Ohio was the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station. It began generating power in 1978.
Energy Consumption
Energy consumption in Ohio was driven by the industrial sector, placing the state in the top ten energy-consuming states in the United States. The industrial sector accounted for about one third of Ohio’s energy consumption, followed by the transportation sector. In 2022, Ohio ranked twenty-third in total energy consumed; seventh among US states in consumption of natural gas (1.3 trillion cubic feet), sixth in consumption of coal (447 trillion Btu), and eighth in consumption of petroleum (203 million barrels).
State Senate Bill 221
In 2008, the Ohio legislature passed the Clean Energy Law (Senate Bill 221). The law outlined four separate clean energy requirements for the state’s investor-owned utilities; municipal systems and electrical cooperatives are not subject to the law’s provisions. These requirements included a reduction in consumption of electricity (net sales) of 22 percent by 2025 through electrical efficiency measures and programs; a reduction in peak electrical demand by 1 percent in 2009 and by 0.75 percent each year during the 2010–18 period; and a mandate to provide 12.5 percent of all electrical sales from renewable energy sources by 2025. Also by 2025, 0.5 percent of all electrical energy was supposed to come from solar power sources.
In 2022, Ohio consumed 149.5 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, compared to 160.1 TWh in the mid-2000s, a reduction of about 6.6 percent. Renewable energy account for about 4 percent of electricity sales, and the state received about 1.58 percent of electricity from solar power.
Renewable Energy Potential
Ohio has made a significant investment in the development of its renewable resources. The state had more than 2,000 companies in industries related to the manufacture of components for renewable energy systems.
While ranked thirty-sixth among the states in wind energy potential, Ohio ranked twenty-fourth in wind power production in 2024. Estimated to have a potential capacity of at least 415 megawatts, this resource is located primarily along Lake Erie and the plains in the northwestern part of the state.
Although Ohio was slow to install solar systems within its borders, the state has made great progress in adopting solar power in the 2010s and 2020s. In 2024, Ohio ranked fifteenth in generating solar power, up from forty-second a decade earlier. Ohio also possesses significant biomass resources. The state's eleven biomass-producing power plants generated about 10 percent of the state's electricity in 2022.
Bibliography
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Kowalski, Kathiann M. "New Report Card Shows Where Ohio Needs to Catch up in Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions." Inside Climate News, 29 July 2023, insideclimatenews.org/news/29072023/ohio-behind-meeting-greenhouse-gas-emissions-cuts/. Accessed 8 Aug. 2024.
"Ohio." US Energy Information Administration, 21 Sept. 2023, www.eia.gov/state/?sid=OH. Accessed 8 Aug. 2024.
“Ohio’s Clean Energy Report Card: How Wind, Solar, and Energy Efficiency Are Repowering the Buckeye State Environment Ohio Research and Policy Center.” Public Interest Network, March 2012, publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Ohios-Clean-Energy-Report-Card.pdf. Accessed 8 Aug. 2024.