Station

California’s natural gas power generation bill may be higher than normal in the first months of 2013 as the 2,200 MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was shuttered. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Allison Macfarland this week was at the plant for an update but hasn’t indicated when at least one of the two units would restart. Majority owner/operator Southern California Edison Co. has asked the NRC to allow at least Unit 2 to come back to 70% of capacity.

Crestwood Marcellus Midstream LLC (CMM) is adding more bolt-on natural gas compression and dehydration assets in West Virginia’s Harrison and Doddridge counties that provide services to a unit of Antero Resources through a $95 million acquisition from Enerven Compression LLC.

California’s electricity grid operator last week indicated it was making plans for a long-term loss of the 2,200 MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (Songs), which is now in its eighth month out of service with no prospects for a resumption of operations.

Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) plans to eliminate nearly one-third of the staff at its troubled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (Songs) along the Pacific Coast in the northern-most end of San Diego County, CA. The staff reductions had already been articulated in SCE’s pending general rate case, but with the two 2,200 MW Songs units out of service since January, the move is sure to spark more speculation about the long-term future of the plant. Both units have turned up excessive wear in part of the tubing on newly installed steam generators on both units (see Daily GPI, Feb. 7). The length of the outage has caused a re-emphasis on natural gas-fired generation in a state, which already relies on gas-fired power for the bulk of its in-state generation (see Daily GPI, Aug. 14). As part of the explanation for the staff reduction to 1,500 from the current levels above 2,100 positions, a utility spokesperson said the Songs steam generator issues “require SCE be prudent with its future spending while [the utility] and regulators review the long-term viability of the nuclear plant. The reality is that the Unit 3 reactor will not be operating for some time.”

As California faces its first real heatwave of the summer, the fate of the 2,200 MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (Songs) remains a mystery, and the only sure bet is that more natural gas-fired electric generation within and outside the state will have to be called upon to make up for the absence of the huge plant along the Pacific Coast in North San Diego County.

While there were assurances Monday that the idled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (Songs) is not going to be closed permanently, there also were no indications when at least one of its two units may be back online. As a result, California energy planners need to assume stepped-up natural gas-fired generation will be needed to make up for the 2,200 MW nuclear facility’s absence this summer.

As part of its strategy to create a major natural gas supply hub in northeastern Pennsylvania, Williams Partners has formed an interstate pipeline joint venture with Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., one of the top producers in the Marcellus Shale.

As production from the booming Marcellus Shale has grown and the emerging Utica Shale has made its presence felt, the Northeast, formerly a gas “have-not,” is pushing its own production outward to markets as pipelines race to catch up.

The Obama administration on Wednesday denied the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline proposal on the recommendation of the U.S. State Department, saying at this time it is not in the U.S. national interest to build the 1,700-mile link from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).