History

Construction of one of the lower levels of Cardinal Power Station Unit 3. Placed in operation on Sept. 20, 1977, Unit 3 added 630 megawatts of capacity.

From almost the moment they were formed, Ohio's electric cooperatives realized the need for their own source of power.

Up until the mid-1960s, the co-ops contracted with other companies, mostly IOUs (investor-owned utilities), for their power generation and transmission needs. One IOU, American Electric Power (AEP), became an especially trusted partner over the years.

In 1959, Ohio's electric cooperatives formed Buckeye Power, Inc. It was established as a statewide generation and transmission cooperative with the objective of obtaining a power-producing facility.

Ohio Gov. James Rhodes, left, was on hand for the announcement of the Cardinal Station project for construction of Units 1 and 2. With Rhodes are, from right, Buckeye's Owen Manning and AEP's Donald Cook and Philip Sporn.

Three years later, representatives of Buckeye Power and AEP, parent company of Ohio Power, started talking. The negotiations started as a conversation between Howard Cummins, then the executive manager of Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc. and Philip Sporn, president of AEP, and eventually went on for several years.

The final agreement to build the Cardinal Station was announced Oct. 28, 1963. It said Buckeye Power and Ohio Power would join to build the 1,200-megawatt (MW) facility, which at the time made it the world's largest and most efficient coal-fired power plant. AEP would build and operate the station and each company would own one of the 600 MW units. Buckeye's surplus capacity would be made available to Ohio Power at cost through a banked power agreement, under which Buckeye is able to buy back the capacity as it needs it.

Cardinal Unit 2 went on line on July 1, 1967 and almost a year later, it became the property of Buckeye Power. Buckeye's share of the project cost was $62 million, all financed without federal REA funds.

Work proceeds on Units 1 and 2. When completed in 1967, the 1,200-megawatt Cardinal Station was the world's largest and most efficient. Unit 2, owned by Buckeye Power, went in service on July 1, 1967.

As the population of the state continued to grow in the 1960s and 70s, so did the demand for electricity. On Sept. 20, 1977, Buckeye added Cardinal Unit 3 to its inventory, adding another 630 MW of capacity. Thanks to more stringent environmental laws, Unit 3 differed from its earlier "sibling" in more than just a slightly higher capacity; it also features a 423-foot cooling tower, among other pollution controls.