Florida Power Corp. filed plans with the Florida Public ServiceCommission to accelerate the building of a second generation unitat its Hines Energy Complex in Polk County. The unit will provideadditional capability to meet growing demand for electricity wellinto the next century. The company has offered to absorbconstruction costs for the plant in its current customer rates.

The 500-megawatt Hines 2 plant will help meet the needs of thecompany’s growing customer base in Florida by increasingreliability and generation capacity – and its fuel efficiency willlead to lower energy prices for customers. Following the requiredregulatory approvals in 1999, construction of the plant will begin.The plant is expected to begin operating in mid-2001. Hines I andII combined will consume 70-80 MMcf/d of gas depending uponweather.

“We’ve anticipated Florida’s growing energy needs for some time.That’s why we designed the Hines site to accommodate up to 3,000 MWwhen fully developed over the next decade,” said Joe Richardson,Florida Power CEO. The first unit at Hines, with a capacity of 500MW, is scheduled for commercial operation later this year.Richardson said events this past summer, when Florida Powerexceeded its previous record peak demand on 30 separate days,highlighted the need for more generation. The record-setting heatin June, the hottest month in the history of Florida, required thecompany to use its energy management program beyond the practicallimit of customer tolerance.

Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) recently formed an alliancewith Florida Gas Transmission (FGT), creating the cornerstone of anew FGT pipeline expansion/extension project in the state (SeeDaily GPI Oct. 2, 1998). FPL plans to repower its Fort Myersgeneration plant in southwest Florida by 2001 and expects to needmore than 180 MMcf/d of additional gas supply as well as about 100miles of new 24- or 30-inch diameter pipeline, which FGT has agreedto provide. The new FGT extension would begin at existingfacilities in Hillsborough County near Tampa and run through Polk,Hardee, DeSoto, Charlotte and Lee counties to Fort Myers.

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