Duke Energy has entered into an agreement to acquire a 400 MW merchant generation facility from Enron North America. Acquisition of the Union County, MS, gas-fired facility expands Duke Energy’s Southeast generation portfolio. It also provides additional trading and structured origination opportunities throughout the eastern interconnect. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Closing is anticipated to take place in early October. The North American Electric Reliability Council estimates the Southeastern Electric Reliability Council needs an additional 40,000 MW of generation capacity over the next decade to meet peaking demand. Given access to major transmission lines, the Duke Energy facility will be able to serve demand throughout the southeastern and midwestern United States.

Calpine Corp. announced that Florida’s Power Plant Siting Board granted final state regulatory approval for its proposed 529 MW Osprey Energy Center, to be located in Auburndale, FL. Calpine is the first independent power producer to receive approval of a site certification application for a large-scale combined-cycle generating facility under Florida’s complex Power Plant Siting Act. Full-scale construction will begin later this year. The $250 million facility will rely on clean-burning natural gas supplied by the new Gulfstream Pipeline, which is currently under construction. As previously announced, the Osprey Energy Center will provide output under long-term contract to Seminole Electric Cooperative Inc. Calpine currently owns and operates an existing 150 MW cogeneration facility in Auburndale, and will expand its existing Auburndale plant this summer by adding a 100 MW peaking unit at the site. Calpine has announced its intent to invest more than $750 million to help supply Florida’s fast-growing electric power market. In addition to the now-approved Osprey project, Calpine is continuing to move forward with the proposed 1,080 MW Blue Heron Energy Center, to be located in Indian River County west of Vero Beach.

PECO Energy said demand for electricity, spurred by the hot, humid summertime weather, would rise sharply again Thursday. PECO, a subsidiary of Exelon, said energy demand earlier this week peaked during the 5 p.m. hour at 7,077 MW, which was expected to be surpassed Thursday afternoon by as much as another 300 MW. When weather becomes extreme, peak demand for electricity can rise 15% to 25% over seasonal averages, the company noted. PECO delivered 137.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity Wednesday for its 1.5 million customers. Wednesday’s peak demand and total electric sendout reached the highest levels for the year. Yet, the all-time records set on July 6, 1999 are not considered in jeopardy this week. The record output for a day two years ago was greater than 163 million kwh, while anytime daily output exceed 120 million kwh is considered exceptional. PECO said power supply appears adequate with a comfortable reserve within the PJM Interconnection, not considering any unanticipated loss of major generation locally. Other regions of the country, such as New York, New England and the Midwest, are not experiencing extreme weather conditions and extra power could be available from those areas if needed, PECO said. PJM is the MidAtlantic power pool operator that coordinates supply for 11 electric utilities to ensure reliability of the interconnected system.

Constellation Energy Group achieved a major milestone in its agreement to purchase the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station by obtaining approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last week for the transfer of the plant’s operating licenses to Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, LLC, a subsidiary of Constellation Nuclear, LLC. Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. is the sole owner and operator of Nine Mile Point Unit 1 and the operator and a co-owner of Unit 2, located in Scriba, NY. Co-owners of Unit 2 also include New York State Electric & Gas Corp., Rochester Gas & Electric Co., Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp., and Long Island Lighting Co. (LILCO). LILCO will remain a minority owner of Unit 2. Constellation Nuclear in December 2000 announced its agreement to purchase 100% of Unit 1 and 82% of Unit 2, equaling 1,550 MW of Nine Mile Point’s total generating capacity of 1,757 MW. Unit 1 is a 609 MW reactor that entered service in 1969, while Unit 2 is a 1,148 MW reactor that began operation in 1988. Constellation Nuclear applied to the NRC on Feb. 1, 2001, for the transfer of Nine Mile Point’s operating licenses.

Tractebel SA of Brussels, Belgium, which acquired Cabot LNG in Everett, MA last year (see Daily GPI, July 14, 2000), said Thursday it would not exercise an option to buy an equity stake in a second liquefied natural gas tanker, but remained committed to the U.S. market and the long-term agreement to purchase one LNG tanker from Norwegian-based Bergesen. Tractebel announced it had entered into a 20-year charter agreement with Bergesen for a 138,000 cubic meter carrier in early June (see Daily GPI, June 4), scheduled for delivery in 2003. The carrier would be used to transport LNG from Trinidad to the Cabot facility. The Cabot terminal is also used to import LNG from Algeria, and currently has a vaporization capacity of 12.4 million cubic meters a day. Tractebel has said it wants to increase the capacity to three times that level over an unspecified time period.

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