TECO Energy subsidiary TECO Power Services on Tuesday held a groundbreaking ceremony for its 599 MW independent power project in Dell, AR. The Dell power station is being constructed by NEPCO under a turnkey construction contract. Actual construction on the facility began in March. Like its sister station — McAdams power station in Kosciusko, MS — the Dell facility will be a natural gas-fired, combined-cycle plant. Both the Dell and McAdams projects are designed to interconnect with the Entergy transmission system and sell electricity to wholesale customers in the Southeast and Midwest, including the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. The plant is expected to begin commercial operation during the second half of 2002.

FirstEnergy Corp. announced on Tuesday that it has completed the installation of five 85 MW, natural gas-fired peaking units at its West Lorain plant in Lorain, OH, adding 425 MW of peaking capacity to its system. Including this project, FirstEnergy has added a total of 885 MW to its system in the last two years. In addition to West Lorain, the company has installed three 130 MW, natural gas-fired peaking units at its Richland plant in Defiance, OH, and uprated its Perry nuclear power plant in Perry, OH, by 70 MW, bringing the plant’s capacity to 1,320 MW. FirstEnergy’s total generating capacity now stands at 12,956 MW, a 10% increase compared with 1998. Other plans call for the completion of a 340 MW, natural gas peaking facility in Michigan by next summer and uprates at the Beaver Valley and Davis-Besse nuclear plants in Shippingport, PA, and Oak Harbor, OH, respectively, that will add 210 MW over the next five years.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Tuesday announced that its June natural gas rates will again decline, bringing the average residential gas bill to $26. The June retail rates are 38 percent lower than May’s rates, and 66% lower than January’s rates. The new rates will take effect Thursday, June 7. Since last fall, gas rates have been extremely high compared with recent years, hovering at or above $1/therm for the commodity alone. In January 2001, PG&E gas utility customers experienced their highest rates ever when the commodity portion of the rate hit $1.42/therm due to the high wholesale spot market gas prices. June’s rate for the gas portion will be 48 cents, a level not seen since last summer. The PG&E gas utility delivery charge, an average of 36 cents/therm, has not changed significantly in several years. Market analysts predict that gas prices will remain fairly stable throughout the summer and fall, then rise again in December when demand increases with winter heating loads. Unlike electricity, natural gas customers in California pay the full market price.

The New Power Co. (TNPC), a subsidiary of NewPower Holdings Inc., recently announced that it has begun offering consumers in northern California a two-year, fixed-price natural gas contract. Consumers in Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s service territory can lock in a low, fixed rate for the entire two years. “NewPower is enormously pleased to provide California consumers, who’ve been buffeted by volatile energy prices, with a stable, gas contract,” said H. Eugene Lockhart, TNPC’s CEO. “Smart energy shoppers in California will join the 600,000-plus customers we now serve in 19 markets.”

ONEOK Gas Transportation LLC (OGT) reported on Tuesday that it has inked long term agreements with InterGen and Energetix to supply natural gas to the companies’ Redbud Energy Facility to be constructed near Luther, OK. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Under the agreement, OGT will provide firm gas transportation service of up to 200 MMcf/d to the 1,100 MW Redwood plant, which is scheduled to begin commercial operation during the second quarter of 2003. The facility will supply power to Oklahoma and regional power markets.

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