Utility companies in Nevada and Washington have expressed interest in two Duke Energy power plants that were suspended halfway through construction. Duke put the plants on hold because of depressed market conditions and a power oversupply situation in western markets in the near term.

Sierra Pacific Resources’ Nevada Power Co. utility has its eyes on Duke’s half-completed 1,200 MW Moapa Energy Facility in the Apex Industrial Park north of Las Vegas. And Puget Sound Energy has expressed interest in Duke’s half-completed, 600 MW Grey’s Harbor plant in Washington. Duke’s spokesman Patrick Mullen would not say whether the company is discussing a sale.

Duke has a third plant, the 600 MW Deming facility in New Mexico, that also was suspended prior to being completed last summer, and its proposed 600 MW Avenal plant in the central valley of California recently extended the moratorium on its permitting process another 12 months.

Most of the company’s activity in the West is concentrated on completing the permitting for a total replacement of the 1,000 MW Morro Bay plant with a 1,200 MW combined-cycle facility. The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Board recently reaffirmed its approval of the use of “once-through ocean water” cooling for the new plant as the “best available technology,” Mullen said. The push by some environmentalists for dry cooling has lengthened the permitting process.

“We are constantly evaluating whether to build, hold or sell assets,” Mullen said. “So, at any given time, under the right circumstances, all of our assets are potentially for sale, including the deferred facilities.”

Sierra Pacific Resources CEO Walter Higgins last week indicated in a conference call that Nevada Power might be interested in buying Duke’s partially built plant in its territory. Higgins said the company is looking at “all alternatives.”

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