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An 865-MW Georgia Power Coal Plant Is Showing Distress

August 7, 2018

The future of Georgia Power’s 865-MW coal-fired Plant Hammond in Floyd County, Georgia—which recently slashed more than half its workforce—is murky, company officials said August 3.

The four-unit facility that began operations in 1954 employed 190 workers in September 2016. Today, according to company officials, the plant only has 41 full-time employees.

Georgia Power Regional Director Cassandra Wheeler reportedly told members of the Rome Rotarians civic club last week that “The numbers don’t look good,” as the Rome News-Tribune reported on August 2. Wheeler reportedly said the future of the plant won’t be known until the company completes its 2019 Integrated Resource Plan, through a process with the Georgia Public Service Commission.

Georgia Power spokesperson Jacob Hawkins on August 6 told POWER that Wheeler’s comments are “generally accurate.” Hawkins added: “While our next IRP is currently under development and will be filed in 2019, we are committed to delivering reliable and affordable energy and ensuring that all of our generation facilities provide value for our customers.”…

Duane Arnold Nuclear Plant Will Close in 2020

July 29, 2018

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NextEra Energy Resources, the wholesale power generating subsidiary of Florida-based NextEra Energy Inc., announced that it has struck a deal to shorten its power purchase agreement (PPA) with Alliant Energy and will retire the Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC)—a 615-MW nuclear power plant located in Palo, Iowa—before the end of 2020.

DAEC’s reactor is licensed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate until February 21, 2034, but it was expected to close in 2025 when the PPA with Alliant was originally slated to expire. If the agreement to cut five years from the term is approved by the Iowa Utilities Board, Alliant would pay NextEra $ 110 million in September 2020 as part of the buyout. Furthermore, NextEra would supply Alliant’s customers with wind energy from four of its repowered Iowa wind facilities—about 340 MW of combined capacity—under other PPAs. The transactions are expected to save customers nearly $ 300 million in energy costs, on a net present value basis, over 21 years, according to NextEra.…

Report: Human Error to Blame in Fatal India Plant Accident

July 23, 2018

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An internal report from NTPC said an “error in judgment” by plant operators led to an explosion at India’s Feroze Gandhi Unchahar Thermal Power Station last year that resulted in the deaths of 45 workers.

Reuters news service on July 23 said it had reviewed a summary of the report on the accident that occurred November 1, 2017. It said three department heads at the 1,550-MW coal-fired plant decided not to shut down a 500-MW boiler at the plant to clear ash that had built up in the unit. The buildup caused the unit to over-pressurize, which caused an explosion that released hot gas, killing several workers instantly. Others died in the days after the accident, which left survivors with severe burns.

India’s Power Ministry in the week after the accident established a committee to investigate the explosion.

Asian News International in November, in a post on its Facebook page, presented a video taken by a worker using a mobile phone after the accident.…

Navajo Nation Negotiating Sale of West’s Largest Coal Plant

July 17, 2018

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The Navajo Nation on July 12 said it has identified a potential buyer for the 2,250-MW Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in Arizona, the largest coal-fired power plant in the western U.S. The Navajo Nation Council, in a joint news release with the Navajo Nation’s Office of the President and Vice President, said the Hopi Tribe supports an agreement to sell the plant in order to keep it open, along with the nearby Kayenta Mine from which the plant sources coal.

The NGS and the adjacent mine generate about one-third of the Navajo Nation’s operating budget and about 80% of the Hopi Tribe’s, with most of the workers at both the power plant and the mine members of the tribes. The plant’s current ownership plans to close the plant near Page, Arizona, by the end of 2019 if the facility is not sold.

The joint release said negotiations are underway with New York-based Avenue Capital Group, a global investment firm that invests in distressed companies and the distressed debt market, as the potential new owner.…

TEPCO Exec: Daini Plant Will Be Decommissioned

June 15, 2018

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A Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) executive on June 14 said the utility is prepared to decommission the four idle units at its Fukushima Daini nuclear plant in Japan. The comments come as TEPCO continues to struggle with large compensation payments and cleanup costs associated with the March 2011 accident at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa’s remarks today are the first public statements from the company regarding the Daini plant, known as Fukushima No. 2, which escaped damage in 2011 but which is among dozens of Japanese nuclear plants that have remained offline for more than seven years in the wake of the Daiichi disaster. Kobayakawa at a news conference in Fukushima said local opposition to restarting the Daini units is partly behind his company’s decision to permanently close the plant.

The Daini plant is about 7 miles south of Daiichi. Some of its reactors lost cooling functions during the 2011 incident but none of the four units experienced a critical situation.…

GE Will Cut Jobs, End Manufacturing at Virginia Plant

June 13, 2018

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General Electric’s (GE’s) power unit has said it will end manufacturing operations at its plant in Salem, Virginia, next year, with more than 260 workers losing their jobs, according to union officials. Officials noted that 42% of the affected workers are eligible for retirement.

The plan announced June 8 said the Salem plant, which opened in 1955, would continue as an engineering center staffed by some 200 employees. GE is among the largest employers in the Salem region, and the plant at one time had about 3,500 workers.

The company said the Salem manufacturing work would move to other GE locations or be handled by supplier partners. GE has struggled along with other turbine manufacturers over the past year as global demand for the units has fallen. CEO John Flannery in May told a Florida electrical products conference that the company is trying to stem the tide of business losses, but said he is “being deliberate” with moves to reorganize GE even as the company’s stock price has been hammered in the past year.…