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FPL to Buy and Phase Out Another Florida Coal Power Plant

June 21, 2016

Florida Light and Power (FPL) wants to buy and phase out another coal-fired power plant in Florida, a move it says will save its customers an estimated $ 129 million when new gas-fired infrastructure is built in the state.

The NextEra subsidiary on June 20 filed a petition for the Florida Public Service Commission’s (PSC’s) approval to buy the 330-MW Indiantown Cogeneration facility, which is currently owned by Calypso Energy Holdings, in a deal valued at about $ 451 million (including existing debt).

The coal-fired plant is equipped with advanced pollution controls, including selective catalytic reduction technology and a zero-discharge water treatment system. It also sells steam to Louis Dreyfus Citrus, a nearby food processing plant, under an energy services agreement. It is unclear how the deal will affect that contract.

The state regulator approved a power purchase agreement between FPL and the cogeneration facility in 1991 that does not expire until 2025. If the PSC approves the proposal, FPL estimates it will save customers $ 129 million over the remaining life of the contract, approximately nine years.…

How Will the Supreme Court Stay Affect the Clean Power Plan?

June 11, 2016

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One of the witnesses testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on June 9 believes states and regulated entities will be granted additional time to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan (CPP), if the rule is ultimately found to be lawful.

Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court has granted a stay of the rule, which means that the CPP, although finalized, has no legal effect. A stay of an administrative action maintains the status quo during the time that the court considers the legality of the action. Any and all obligations are effectively void and neither states nor regulated entities can be penalized for refusing to comply with any requirement or deadline in the rule.

Unusual Situation

According to Allison Wood, partner in the law firm Hunton & Williams LLP and one of the witnesses at the hearing (Figure 1), stays of federal regulations are very rarely granted by any court. She said the Supreme Court only grants a stay when there is a reasonable probability that four justices would consider the issue one on which they would grant review, there is a fair prospect that a majority of the court would vote to strike down the rule at issue, and there is a likelihood that irreparable harm would result without a stay.…

Watts Bar Unit 2 Nuclear Plant Synchronized to Power Grid

June 7, 2016

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The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) reached another milestone on June 3 when operators at Watts Bar Unit 2—the nation’s newest nuclear power plant and the first added to the fleet in 20 years—synchronized its generator to the power grid, generating electricity from the plant for the first time (Figure 1).

1. Reactor Operator Bill Hahn synchronizes Watts Bar Unit 2 to the TVA power grid on Friday, June 3, 2016. Courtesy: TVA

Watts Bar Unit 2 has had a long and storied history. Ground was broken for the plant in 1973. However, construction was suspended in 1985 due to slower electricity demand growth, rising construction costs due to inflation and new regulatory requirements stemming from the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979, and regulatory concerns throughout the TVA nuclear fleet. At the time, Unit 2 was estimated to be about 80% complete with a total investment of about $ 1.7 billion.

In the years that followed, various pieces of equipment, such as pumps, motors, and valves, were salvaged for use in Watts Bar Unit 1 or in Watts Bar’s sister plant, Sequoyah.…

Risk-Based NERC Compliance: Assessing Risk to Bulk Power System Generation

June 2, 2016

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Ensuring the reliability of the power system is the responsibility of many industry participants. In this POWER exclusive, one regional reliability entity, the Midwest Reliability Organization, explains its role.

In response to the 2003 Blackout—which affected parts of the U.S. Northeast and Midwest, plus portions of the Canadian province of Ontario—the U.S. Congress mandated adoption of reliability standards for the bulk power system (BPS). The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) is responsible for coordinating the development of those mandatory reliability standards (written by industry experts), which become effective with approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the U.S. and authorization in Canada under arrangements with each province. NERC has contracted with Midwest Reliability Organization (MRO) and seven other regional entities to be responsible for compliance, monitoring, and enforcement of the reliability standards.

Development of a Risk-Based Approach

When MRO began enforcing mandatory reliability standards in 2007, every instance of noncompliance, no matter what the risk was to reliable operations of the BPS, required a formal enforcement proceeding with a filing to FERC in the U.S.…