Florida Power & Light Co. said last week that in order tomore reliably serve its customers, it plans to add two 170 MW,natural gas-fired peaking units to its Fort Myers capacityexpansion program. An FPL spokesperson said there are no estimatesfor the cost of the facilities or how much gas they will consume.

Permitting for the peaking units would begin this summer, withconstruction expected to begin in April 2002. The two units wouldbe available for commercial operation in April and May of 2003,respectively. Overall, the company’s current power generationsystem is 18,700 MW, which includes power plants and purchasedcapacity.

“Adding to an existing site like Fort Myers is a very economicaland environmentally friendly approach. It especially makes sense aswe already are in the process of repowering the older, largergenerating units at the site with new technology that will usenatural gas instead of oil,” said FPL President Paul Evanson.

FPL’s Fort Myers repowering project involves increasing thecapacity of the plant from a 540 MW, oil-fired facility to a 1,400MW natural gas-fired generation plant capable of meeting theelectricity needs of more than 300,000 homes and businesses. Siteconstruction began in July 1999 and the repowered facility isscheduled to be in-service in mid 2002.

The project is of significant interest to Florida GasTransmission (FGT). FPL and FGT forged a partnership in 1998allowing the pipeline company to serve the growing power needs ofthe power company. Much of FGT’s planned pipeline expansion isdedicated to supplying the repowered Fort Myers plant. Plansspecifically call for the pipeline to extend its 30-inch West Legby about 114 miles from Hillsborough County, FL, to the Fort Myers’generating station, which would receive up to 160,000 MMBtu/d ofcapacity. Overall, the $350 million expansion would add 272,000MMBtu/d.

FPL is not the only company building generation in Florida.Multiple power projects are being filed with the state due to theforecasts of major electric demand. The state will require morethan 10,000 MW of new power generating capacity by 2007, accordingto the Florida Public Service Commission’s “Review of ElectricUtility 1998 10-Year Site Plans.” If fueled entirely by gas, thiswould require an additional 1.5 Bcf/d of capacity.

The new peaking units at Fort Myers will address in part aFlorida Public Service Commission decision last year that Florida’sinvestor-owned utilities should establish a 20% reserve margin. Aspart of the same plan to boost reserves, FPL announced this pastDecember the addition of two identical 170 MW peaking units at itsMartin plant site on Florida’s East Coast.

Yet despite this demand, building massive power plants inFlorida is proving to be a tricky process. Opposition to the newplants, in the form of IOUs and landowners, has taken the onepotential generation builder, Duke Energy Power Services, to thestate supreme court saying the PSC does not have the authority tocertificate its planned merchant power plant in New Smyrna Beach,FL. The court heard oral arguments on the case in early Februaryand should be issuing a decision soon.

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