Appalachian Power delivers safe, affordable and reliable energy while actively protecting the air, water, land and communities we serve. Environmental stewardship guides every decision: we invest in cleaner generation, reduce emissions, conserve habitats and partner with customers and communities to build a more sustainable energy future.
Our Mitigation Hierarchy
We use a clear three-step framework to guide decisions and limit environmental impacts:
- Avoid: Our first step is to avoid sensitive, protected and at‑risk areas and locations of high biodiversity, including relocating projects to sites with lower impact.
- Minimize: When avoidance isn’t possible, we reduce impacts wherever feasible, for example pausing wind turbines during bird migrations.
- Mitigate: As a last resort we restore, create, enhance or preserve sensitive habitats unavoidably affected by projects, for example protecting shoreline habitat or funding new wetland creation.
Water Use & Management
Water is essential to many electricity generation processes. In 2024 about 92% of our generation capacity required water, and the vast majority of that water was returned to its source. Less than 2% of our total water use was lost to evaporation through cooling and flue gas treatment systems.
As we integrate wind, solar and nuclear generation alongside natural gas plants, water use patterns will change. We are adopting more efficient cooling technologies and water management practices to reduce withdrawals and lower consumption. We also prioritize monitoring, reuse and conservation to protect local water resources and support resilient operations.
Quick facts
- In 2024, ~92% of generation capacity required water
- Less than 2% of total water use is lost to evaporation/consumption
Coal Combustion Residuals (CCRs)
Coal combustion residuals, or CCRs, are the solid byproducts from burning coal for electricity and represent AEP’s largest waste stream. Many CCRs can be beneficially reused in products such as concrete, wallboard and construction materials. Beneficial reuse reduces the amount sent to landfills, lowers our environmental footprint and can provide a revenue offset for operations.
Nearly half of our CCRs are diverted from landfills and ash ponds through beneficial reuse, and we continuously monitor U.S. EPA and state CCR rules and implement strategies to meet current requirements, including closing existing CCR impoundments where appropriate.
Visit the CCR Rule Compliance section of our corporate website for more information.
More Information
Visit the environmental section of our corporate website to explore: