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LONGVIEW POWER EMERGES FROM BANKRUPTCY
by Duane Nichols 24 Aug '20

24 Aug '20

https://longviewpower.com/news/longview-power-emerges-from-bankruptcy LONGVIEW POWER EMERGES FROM BANKRUPTCY August 3, 2020 By Longview Power LLC. Maidsville, West Virginia. Longview Power (the “Company”) emerged from bankruptcy on July 30th strategically positioned to build on its record as a low cost, highly reliable and clean coal fired power plant by expanding into a multi-fuel “all of the above” power producer. The last regulatory approval required for Longview Power’s emergence was received from the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission in mid-July, less than 100 days after the Company filed for bankruptcy protection in April. During this expedited bankruptcy, Longview Power extinguished more than $350 million of loans and now emerges well capitalized with new equity owners that have provided a $40 million 5-year term loan to support its operations and growth. The bankruptcy did not affect relationships with vendors or employees, and none of the Company’s 140 employee plant staff were furloughed during the case or on account of the ongoing global pandemic. Due to its low cost operations, the Company’s plant has continued to operate at high capacity factors notwithstanding the COVID-19 related electricity demand reductions that occurred in the spring. Longview Power management has continued to make substantial progress in the development of the 1200 MW natural gas combined cycle plant and a 70MW solar facility that will be built adjacent to the coal plant. The CCGT and solar facility received their final siting certificate from the West Virginia Public Service Commission and the CCGT is in the final stages for an air permit and interconnection agreement from PJM. Jeffery Keffer, CEO of Longview Power, commented that, “The power generation industry faces many challenges in these difficult times. There is no power plant better positioned to meet those challenges. We have state of the art technology and a world class plant staff able to attain and sustain the highest performance from the plant. Moreover, we are at the late stages of developing a cutting edge technology combined cycle gas fired turbine generation plant and solar facility next to the coal plant. These facilities will utilize abundant local high quality fuels and the sun to produce low cost energy for the region for years to come.”

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Notes from Longview work session with Mon County Commission
by Duane Nichols 12 Aug '20

12 Aug '20

From: James Kotcon <jkotcon(a)gmail.com> > Date: August 7, 2020 at 9:22:03 AM EDT > > Subject: Notes from Longview work session with Mon County Commission > > Duane Nichols, Marge Batton (Ft. Martin Community), Betsy Lawson and I, had a one-hour work session Wednesday, August 5th, with the three commissioners, Ed Hawkins, Tom Bloom and Sean Sikora. Duane is getting a copy of the video recording so we can get the specific words down, but here are some of my notes. > > 1) The Mon County Commission (MCC) has not had communications with Longview for several months, and the PILOT Agreement (Bloom calls it a PILT) has not been a priority for MCC, as they deal with the COVID-19 crisis. They were aware that Longview has emerged from bankruptcy, but the status of air permits or the Longview I greenhouse gas permit appeared to be news to them. > > 2) The PILOT will not be made public until a final negotiated document is presented to the Commission. Public comment may be considered then, but they do not currently plan any extended public comment period, it would be handled the same as any other contract before the MCC. > > 3) The MCC acknowledged concerns about the traffic and road conditions affecting residents on Fort Martin road, and had taken a site visit last year. But > I think their real attitude was expressed when Hawkins said "That's the DOH" (as in it is DOH's responsibility) and a couple indicated that "There are lots of bad roads in Mon County". They (at least Sikora) were aware of the PSC Order that Longview should use the northern route where feasible, but did not seem to recognize that they could or should make that a mandate in the PILOT. > > 4) Preservation of the old Fort Martin school was discussed, but the MCC had taken over several old schools in the past and does not see a need for another museum or community center because the upkeep of those buildings is a significant budget strain. > > 5) Duane raised an issue of the excessive steam plumes in the neighborhood as well as GHG from three power plants in one community, but it did not really get a response from MCC. > > 6) When asked about climate change and carbon capture, MCC indicated that CCS is "not in our jurisdiction" and did not seem inclined to make it an issue for the PILOT. We came back to the greenhouse gas issues repeatedly, but it just was not getting through to MCC that they could or should consider it as a condition in the PILOT. > > 7) They do not like to think of the PILOT as a "tax break", as the current taxes on the land is only a few thousand dollars a year, and the PILOT would generate ~$3 million. But they were willing to acknowledge that the property taxes would be significantly higher without the PILOT. > > 8) They also do not see any tie between a PILOT for Longview II, versus the PILOT for Longview I, the need for Longview I, or the jobs there. I think Hawkins is resigned to the early closure of Longview I, and he went into a long description of the number of dairy farms in Mon County (which is now down to one, soon to be none), implying that those changes in the economy are inevitable and out of their hands. They do not seem to recognize the relevance of the low market demand for electricity, versus their policy decisions and the role of government tax breaks in driving those economic decisions. > > 9) They did not seem to respond to the idea that the PILOT statute may be unconstitutional. But they were aware of the change in the school funding formula, as it cost Mon County Schools ~$930,000 per year. They did not describe any alternative approaches, and we did not really get a chance to press them on their ideas (While I am sure they would like to capture the PILOT money AND keep their school funding from the state too, I don't know any mechanism to do that. We may need a tax expert if they try something other than a PILOT). > > 10) Betsy raised the concern about the noise, dust, pollution and trucks associated with fracking wells in her end of the county, but that did not seem to phase MCC. > > Two new points that I learned: > 11) The MCC does expect that the PILOT for Longview II will be distinct from the solar farm (Longview III, AKA Longview Renewable Energy). While the total dollar amount is fixed, those two will be separate in a PILOT. We had proposed this a year ago, but they seemed surprised when I thanked them for it. I expressed our concern that we need to phase out of fossil fuels and a gas-fired plant cannot be expected to pay off, whereas demand for solar is increasing and costs keep coming down, so it is a better long-term decision. They repeated the concern that solar is too expensive, and Bloom promised to send me his economic data demonstrating that. > > 12) The current proposal has a "5-year financing limit". I inferred this to mean that a PILOT expires if Longview does not get financing within five years, but Duane interpreted it that Longview has financing, which expires in five years. We need to get clarification, and probably cannot until a PILOT is made public. > > Conclusions: > 13) Tom Bloom clearly stated that a PILOT is in the best interest of Mon County, and he supports it. Hawkins also appeared to support a PILOT, but did not state it clearly, and tended to wander off into tangents that distracted from the main issue. Sikora seemed open minded and willing to consider new ideas, but is not clearly on our side. > > Jim Kotcon, Conservation Chair, WV Sierra Club > > >

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Kotcon, Campbell: Many winners in scrapped pipeline project (Opinion) | Op-Ed Commentaries | wvgazettemail.com
by Duane Nichols 06 Aug '20

06 Aug '20

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_ed_commentaries/kotcon-campbell-ma… Many winners in scrapped pipeline project (Opinion) Letter to Editor of Charleston Gazette-Mail by Jim Kotcon and Kevin Campbell, August 4, 2020 Doug Reynolds, majority owner of HD Media LLC, which owns the Charleston Gazette-Mail, questioned in a recent op-ed whether anyone wins from the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline natural gas project. Unfortunately, he and a wide range of West Virginia leaders appear to be taking the wrong lessons from the cancellation. If West Virginia leaders want to promote economic development, they need to recognize what really happened here and what it means for the future. Developers, politicians and other industry leaders blame “regulatory uncertainty” and litigation by environmentalists for the cancellation. But West Virginians should not be fooled: The developers of the pipeline really have only themselves and their bad management decisions to blame. Courts tend to defer to regulatory agencies, so the court decisions halting the pipeline only could have happened because those violations were real. These were not the result of “regulatory uncertainty,” they were the result of developers trying to ignore the plain language of the law. For over five years, we have told developers that climate change is real, that building a pipeline on steep slopes with erodible soils requires very careful, site-specific plans to prevent water pollution and that the need for the pipeline was never really demonstrated. Instead of addressing these very real issues, developers continually tried to bulldoze over our objections. Those bad decisions resulted in dozens of violations, successful legal challenges, wasted money and continuous conflict. Water quality violations from Atlantic Coast are numerous. We saw it coming, we warned regulatory agencies in hundreds of public comments and complaints, and unfortunately, it happened as we forecast. This was not some big surprise, it was the inevitable and easily predictable result of trying to build on West Virginia’s steep slopes without adequate precautions. The lack of need for the pipeline may have been the real driver for the cancellation. It was dubious from the beginning, driven more by the greed of developers to capture guaranteed returns from ratepayers than from any realistic assessment of market demand. As prices for exported gas collapsed and plans for new power plants were shelved, the economic justification looked more and more contrived. We suspect that if there were a legitimate market need, Atlantic Coast would not have been canceled, regardless of the environmental concerns. Most importantly, climate change is real. We need to reduce use of fossil fuels quickly and be entirely out within 30 years. Investing billions of dollars in fossil fuel infrastructure would almost certainly never pay off. The passage in Virginia this spring of the state’s Clean Economy Act made that abundantly clear to developers, even if West Virginia politicians remain chained to the failed fossil fuel millstone of the past. Until we recognize the reality of climate change and adopt the needed policies to address it, economic development struggles will continue. And if West Virginians want jobs, dollars invested in renewables now produce more jobs than fossil fuels. West Virginia continues to miss real job creation opportunities by trying to save a dying fossil fuel industry. Every surrounding state has more jobs in renewables than West Virginia, primarily due to the renewable energy policies chosen by lawmakers. Reynolds asked, “Who won?” Well, landowners will get to use their property (we hope), so they won. West Virginia streams will be a little cleaner, so we all win that one. Ratepayers do not have to reward developers with billions of dollars for unnecessary costs, so they win big. Most of all, the greenhouse gases will not pollute the atmosphere for decades to come, so planet Earth wins.

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A bold plan to slow the melt of Arctic permafrost could help reverse global warming
by Duane Nichols 02 Aug '20

02 Aug '20

https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-04-30/bold-plan-slow-melt-arctic-permafros…

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The Cautionary Tale of the Largest Coal Ash Waste Site in the U.S. - The Allegheny Front, November 2019
by Duane Nichols 02 Aug '20

02 Aug '20

The Cautionary Tale of the Largest Coal Ash Waste Site in the U.S. - The Allegheny Front, November 2019 This story was first published on June 22, 2018. The US EPAannounced proposed rules for coal ash impoundments on November 4, 2019. LISTEN: “The Cautionary Tale of the Largest Coal Ash Waste Site in the U.S.” Audio Player Chester, West Virginia, is a small town of about 3,000 people, just a stone’s throw from Pennsylvania to the east and Ohio to the north. The region’s rolling hills are dotted with family farms and the “world’s largest teapot” proudly welcomes visitors into downtown. But the area is also home to another object of record-breaking size: the largest coal ash waste site in the United States. https://www.alleghenyfront.org/the-cautionary-tale-of-the-largest-coal-ash-…

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Bruce Mansfield Power Plant of Western Pennsylvania
by Duane Nichols 02 Aug '20

02 Aug '20

Bruce Mansfield Power Plant at Shippingport, PA, was closed in November 2019. Language Watch Edit Bruce Mansfield Power Plant was a 2.49-gigawatt (2,490 MW), coal power plant located in Shippingport, Pennsylvania in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. The plant was operated by FirstEnergy. It began operations in 1976 and was shut down in November 2019. Construction of Bruce Mansfield commenced in 1970. The plant was operated by Pennsylvania Power (a subsidiary of Ohio Edison). Its ownership was a consortium of Pennsylvania Power, Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating, Toledo Edison, and Duquesne Light to form the Central Area Power Coordination (CAPCO). Bruce Mansfield began commercial operations of Unit 1 in 1976 with Units 2 and 3 following suit in 1977 and 1980 respectively. All three of the units generated 830 MW each with a nameplate capacity of 2490 MW. The plant was named after D. Bruce Mansfield, a former chairman of Pennsylvania Power. Murray Energy was the primary supplier of coal for Bruce Mansfield. The coal was shipped from West Virginia. FirstEnergy Solutions announced in August 2018 that they were closing Bruce Mansfield by June 2021. FirstEnergy Solutions blamed the wholesale market system, which PJM Interconnection operates on, for not relying on coal and nuclear plants. PJM Interconnection conducted an analysis and concluded the plant's closure would not affect grid reliability. The closure was moved back to November 2019 due to, "a lack of economic viability." Environmental mitigation Units 1 and 2 were installed with a flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) system to prevent sulfur dioxide (SO 2) from being emitted into the atmosphere. Its chimney is 950 feet (290 m) tall. The sludge was then transported 7 miles (11 km) by pipe to Little Blue Run Lake between Beaver County, Pennsylvania and Hancock County, West Virginia.[3][8] When Unit 3 was constructed in 1980, an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) system, designed by the Weir Group, was installed instead for the unit to curb particulate emissions. Its chimney is 600 feet (180 m) tall. To reduce waste disposal from scrubbers at Bruce Mansfield, National Gypsum constructed a nearby plant in 1998 to process synthetic gypsum from the plant to produce drywall. To deliver the gypsum for the nearby manufacturer, a forced-oxidation gypsum (FOG) system was built. A $200 million dewatering facility was completed in 2016 in response to a 2012 settlement that prohibits the further disposal of byproduct at Little Blue Run Lake. The facility would separate byproduct from water and then be properly disposed of in a lined impoundment at Murray Energy's mine in Marshall County, West Virginia. The dewatering facility began operations in January 2017, but problems at the new facility forced the plant to go offline the following month. The plant restarted two weeks later. Incidents A release of hydrogen sulfide (H 2S) during repair work on a pipe killed two and injured four workers in August 2017.[16] The workers' families who experienced casualties in the accident filed lawsuits against FirstEnergy in November 2017 seeking damages. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined FirstEnergy $77,605 for workplace hazards and also fined subcontractor Enerfab $129,340 for failing to provide “appropriate respiratory protection”. FirstEnergy ultimately settled by paying a fine of $65,963. On January 10, 2018, Bruce Mansfield caught on fire causing damage to its roof and duct work. In a filing later that month, FirstEnergy revealed that the fire caused significant damage to the equipment for Units 1 and 2. The damage was severe enough that deactivation of both units were accelerated from June 2021 to February 5, 2019.] Sent from my iPad

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What Mask ... ? Very sad commentary!
by Duane Nichols 19 Jul '20

19 Jul '20

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY – 19 JULY 2020 “Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again.” Robert A. Heinlein KABLER — CORONA-12JulyY2K20 CHARLESTON GAZETTE 12 JULY 2020 Statehouse Beat: West Virginia needs to wake up to pandemic's threat By Phil Kabler Staff writer, Charleston Gazette, Jul 11, 2020 Leave it to West Virginia to turn a pandemic into a pandumbic. With its isolated location, lack of major metropolitan areas and nonexistent international travel, West Virginia had every advantage to ride through the pandemic relatively unscathed but blew it all in recent days by flouting the basics of controlling the spread of COVID-19, particularly through social distancing and wearing facemasks. After pleading for weeks for residents to voluntarily wear face coverings, Gov. Jim Justice on Monday ordered masks worn in public indoor settings and spent the remainder of the week pleading with people to actually follow the executive order. As noted here, West Virginians have been hardheaded before when it came to public health issues, such as mandatory seatbelts and indoor smoking bans. While there might have been some partisanship in both issues, it was nothing like the blatant partisan politics of today’s anti-maskers.

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Toxic Metal Air Pollution Nanoparticles Found Inside the "Powerhouses" of Heart Cells of City Dwellers
by Duane Nichols 07 Jul '20

07 Jul '20

https://www.technologynetworks.com/cell-science/news/toxic-metal-air-pollut… Toxic Metal Air Pollution Nanoparticles Found Inside the "Powerhouses" of Heart Cells of City Dwellers Reference: Maher, B., González-Maciel, A., Reynoso-Robles, R., Torres-Jardón, R., & Calderón-Garcidueñas, L. (2020). Iron-rich air pollution nanoparticles: An unrecognised environmental risk factor for myocardial mitochondrial dysfunction and cardiac oxidative stress. Environmental Research, 188, 109816. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.109816 Toxic metallic air pollution nanoparticles are getting inside the crucial, energy-producing structures within the hearts of people living in polluted cities, causing cardiac stress – a new study confirms. Using state-of-the-art electron microscopy, scientists are now able to show for the first time that tiny metal nanoparticles are getting inside the mitochondria of heart tissue – damaging these crucial ‘powerhouses’ that provide energy for the heart to pump. The research team, led by Professors Barbara Maher of Lancaster University and Lilian Calderón-Garcidueñas of The University of Montana and the Universidad del Valle de Mexico, found the metallic nanoparticles, which included iron-rich nanoparticles and other pollution-derived metals such as titanium, inside the damaged heart cells of a 26-year-old and even a three-year-old toddler. The hearts had belonged to people who had died in accidents and who had lived in highly-polluted Mexico City. The findings shed new light on how air pollution can cause the development of heart disease, as the iron-rich particles were associated with damage to the cells, and increased cardiac oxidative stress, even in these very young hearts. The repeated inhalation of these iron-rich nanoparticles, and their circulation by the bloodstream to the heart, may account for the well-established associations between exposure to particulate air pollution and increased cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks. The study indicates that heart disease can start in very early age, before progressing to full-blown cardiovascular illness later in life. This type of air pollution may thus be responsible for the ‘silent epidemic’ of heart disease, internationally. By causing pre-existing heart conditions, it may also account for some of the increased death rates from Covid-19 seen in areas with high levels of particulate air pollution. Professor Maher said: “It’s been known for a long time that people with high exposure to particulate air pollution experience increased levels and severity of heart disease. Our new work shows that iron-rich nanoparticles from air pollution can get right inside the millions of mitochondria inside our hearts…the structures which generate the energy needed for our hearts to pump properly. “That we found these metal particles inside the heart of even a three-year old indicates that we’re setting heart disease in train right from the earliest days, but only seeing its full, clinical effects in later life. It’s really urgent to reduce emissions of ultrafine particles from our vehicles and from industry, before we give heart disease to the next generation too.” The researchers, using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, found that the mitochondria containing the iron-rich nanoparticles appeared to be damaged, with some cells showing deformities and others with ruptured membranes. Professor Calderón-Garcidueñas stated that increased levels of markers of cardiac oxidative stress are present in the very young cases examined. The iron-rich nanoparticles found inside the heart cells are identical in size, shape and composition to those emitted from sources such as the exhausts, tyres and brakes of vehicles. These air pollution nanoparticles are also emitted by industrial sources as well as open fires in homes. Some of the iron-rich nanoparticles are also strongly magnetic. This raises concerns about what might happen when people with millions of these nanoparticles in their hearts are using appliances with associated magnetic fields, such as hair dryers and mobile phones. People who work in industries that mean they are exposed to magnetic fields such as welders and power line engineers may also be at risk. This kind of exposure could potentially lead to heart electrical dysfunction and cell damage. The findings builds on the researchers’ previous findings that show that the hearts of city dwellers contain billions of these nanoparticles and can be up to ten times more polluted than the hearts of people living in less polluted places. The researchers say their study underlines the need for governments across the world to tackle ultrafine particulate pollution in their cities. Professor Calderón-Garcidueñas said: “Exposure to such air pollution is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, on a global scale, reinforcing the urgent need for individual and government actions not just to reduce PM2.5 but to monitor, regulate and reduce emissions of these specific, ultrafine components of the urban air pollution ‘cocktail’.” Reference: Maher, B., González-Maciel, A., Reynoso-Robles, R., Torres-Jardón, R., & Calderón-Garcidueñas, L. (2020). Iron-rich air pollution nanoparticles: An unrecognised environmental risk factor for myocardial mitochondrial dysfunction and cardiac oxidative stress. Environmental Research, 188, 109816. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.109816

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US utilities are skipping the gas ‘bridge’ in transition from coal to renewables | RenewEconomy
by Duane Nichols 06 Jul '20

06 Jul '20

https://reneweconomy.com.au/us-utilities-are-skipping-the-gas-bridge-in-tra… US utilities are skipping the gas ‘bridge’ in transition from coal to renewables Last week was a momentous one in the U.S. utility sector’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable power generation. Utilities in three states announced plans to close one or more of their coal plants and build new renewables—without adding any new gas-fired generation to serve as a “bridge.” Two of the three proposals, from Tucson Electric Power (TEP), in Arizona, and Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU), are part of comprehensive resource plans that outline the two companies’ intentions to transition to lower-carbon generation resources. Such plans have become increasingly common across the U.S. utility sector, but the TEP and CSU proposals are markedly different as they do not rely on the construction of new gas-fired generation to support the transition. The third proposal, an agreement between JEA, the municipal utility serving Jacksonville, Fla., and Florida Power & Light, will rely on existing gas and new solar to enable the companies to retire the 860 megawatt (MW) Unit 4 at Plant Scherer, which is the largest coal-fired power plant in the U.S. with a combined operating capacity of 3,440MW. TEP’s proposal, included in its 2020 integrated resource plan, calls for the closure of all its coal-fired generation by 2031, which will result in the shuttering of Units 1 and 2 at the Springerville Generating Station. TEP owns 100% of those units, which have a combined summer generation capacity of 793MW; it also serves as the operator of the entire four-unit plant. Unit 3 is owned by Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, and Unit 4 is owned by the Salt River Project. TEP also owns portions of the San Juan Generating Station and the Four Corners Power Plant in New Mexico, both of which already had announced closure dates of 2022 and 2031, respectively. To replace this capacity, TEP said, it will add 2,457MW of new wind and solar generation, including 457MW within the coming year. It will also add 1,400MW of battery storage to its portfoliio to firm its new renewable generation resources and provide system-wide reliability. What the company is decidedly not proposing is any new gas-fired generation: “Even with the future planned retirement of 1,073MW of coal capacity and 225MW of natural gas capacity, TEP’s Preferred Portfolio does not inlcude the addition of any new fossil-fuel resources,” the company wrote. Figure 1- TEP’s Plan: Plenty of Renewables and Storage, No New Fossil Fuels It is worth noting that Springerville is not an old coal station. TEP’s two Springerville units came online in 1985 and 1990, and have been strong performers. Unit 1’s capacity factor over the past seven years has averaged 67.9% while Unit 2 has been even higher at 73.4%—both well above the national average of 54.4%. Still, as TEP acknowledged in its IRP, “the economics of coal-fired generation have shifted…they are no longer the lowest cost resources for energy supply.” Up until recently, the easy option for utilities would have been to propose using gas to replace coal. But not any longer: Rising concerns about climate change and continuing reductions in wind, solar and battery storage costs coupled with improved performance have altered the playing field. TEP’s plan charts a new path, promising to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2035 while keeping costs low and supply reliable through its planned renewable energy buildout. Reductions in the cost of wind, solar and batteries have altered the playing field “We’re accelerating our transition to cleaner energy resources through a cost-effective plan that supports reliable and affordable service from increasingly sustainable resources,” Tuscon Electric Power CEO David Hutchens said when the plan was released. “We’ll be reducing carbon emissions at a pace that places us at the forefront of global efforts to combat climate change.” The plan put forward by Colorado Springs Utilities follows a similar approach. There, the utility board approved plans to exit coal-fired generation entirely by 2030, helping to achieve an 80 percent reduction in its carbon emissions in the coming decade. Under the plan, CSU will close the 208MW Martin Drake Power Plant no later than 2023 and the similarly sized Ray Nixon plant in 2030. As with TEP, Colorado Springs will replace the lost coal capacity with renewable energy resources. Specifically, the utility’s plan calls for the construction of 500MW of new wind generation, 150MW of solar and more than 400MW of battery storage capacity. To enable the early retirement of the Drake plant, the utility acknowledged that it will install temporary natural gas generators at the site “to ensure system reliability.” But those units will be removed as new transmission projects are completed in the years ahead. The agreement struck between FPL, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, and JEA is an outgrowth of the Florida utility’s long-term goal to exit coal-fired generation. FPL owns 76.4% of Scherer Unit 4 while JEA owns the remainder. FPL told Florida regulators in its 10-year site plan filed in April that it intended to retire its share of the 31-year-old unit by January 2022, essentially forcing JEA to act. JEA could have sought out a new partner for the unit, and according to published reports there was some interest among financiers. But that option did not appeal to JEA’s leadership, as JEA Vice Chairman Robert Stein pointed out when the retirement deal was announced: “We would be a minority partner with a hedge fund, and their interestes were not in line with us.” Probably more important is that Scherer simply is no longer economic, as JEA acting CEO Paul McElroy noted in materials presented to the utility’s board of directors. “While the Scherer units have long been low-cost generating units, changes in the natural gas market now make Scherer the highest-cost dispatch unit in JEA’s fleet.” To replace JEA’s 198MW share of the unit’s output, the two utilities signed a long-term, fixed price power purchase agreement under which FPL will sell electricity to JEA from one of its existing gas-fired generation units. The agreement includes an option at the 10-year mark for JEA to switch to solar power. FPL has removed a large new combined-cycle plant that had been planned for completion in 2026 As with the TEP and CSU announcements, this agreement does not depend on any new gas-fired generation being built—either by FPL or JEA—despite the sizable amount of generation being taken offline. Much of the reason for that, in turn, is the roughly 7,300MW of new solar capacity FPL is planning to build in its service territory through 2029. The utility has several gas plant upgrades planned for the years ahead, but a large new combined-cycle plant that had been in previous 10-year plans for completion in 2026 has been removed from the 2020 submission. Finally, a plan put forth last week by staff at the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission regarding the future capacity needs of the Public Service Company of New Mexico recommends a similar gas-free transition. The plan is different from the ones in Arizona, Colorado, and Florida in that it is being promoted by regulators rather than utility companies, but it stands to have the same effect. It is meant to ensure the utility has sufficient capacity resources following its planned retirement of the remaining two units at the San Juan Generating Station in 2022. PNM owns 560MW of the plant’s 847MW capacity. To cover lost capacity, staff backed a plan that would have PNM build 650MW of new solar and 300MW of battery storage. PNM had already backed a plan that would have included 280MW of new gas-fired capacity. The issue now heads to the full commission for a decision. While the PNM decision remains unresolved, what is clear is that transitioning from coal to renewables can be done now, cost effectively and reliably, without an interim shift to gas. Source: IEEFA. Reproduced with permission.

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Mask up and keep your distance ......across WV and beyond ....
by Duane Nichols 06 Jul '20

06 Jul '20

Update from Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer, Monongalia County, July 6, 2020 WV GOVERNOR JUST ORDERED MANDATORY MASK IN CONFINED SPACES. CHILDREN UNDER 9 EXCEPTED. TAKES EFFECT THIS EVENING AT MIDNITE. According to Gov. Justice, positive cases have shot up, and because West Virginia has more vulnerable people than any other state, we will "be in a world of hurt if we don't do this now." Dr. Clay Marsh said we have the seventh-highest R2 rate in the country, and a 234% increase in positive cases. Justice said is not the popular thing to do, but in his mind "it's the only thing" under the circumstances .....

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