Electrical Generation

Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Groundbreaking for Tenaska Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant in SWPA
August 26, 2016September 14, 2016

Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station (concept)

It’s been eight long years since energy giant Tenaska (headquartered in Omaha, NE) first proposed building a natural gas-fueled power plant in South Huntingdon (Westmoreland County), PA. In April MDN reported Tenaska announced that the Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station, a 925-megawatt (MW) natural gas-fueled power plant project near Pittsburgh, had secured $780 million in funding (see Construction Begins on $780M SWPA NatGas-Fired Power Plant). Our headline at the time of “Construction Begins…” was a bit premature as the first shovelful of dirt didn’t happen until earlier this week. On Wednesday, Tenaska held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site. Jerry Crouse, CEO of Tenaska, was on hand for the shindig. The good news is that this large electric generating plant will be powered by Marcellus Shale gas, another important new market for PA’s homegrown natural gas…
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Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

UGI Breaks Ground on Sunbury Pipeline for NEPA Electric Plant
August 25, 2016August 25, 2016

Sunbury Pipeline – click for larger version

In December 2014 Pennsylvania utility company UGI pre-filed an application to build a new 35-mile pipeline to feed a natgas-powered electric generating plant in Snyder County, PA (see UGI Pre-Files with FERC for New Marcellus Pipeline in Central PA and UGI Building 35-Mile Pipeline for Panda Power Electric Plant). The project is estimated to cost $150 million. It took long enough, but in May the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally approved the project, with the seemingly impossible prospect it would be built by this November (see UGI Sunbury Pipeline Gets FERC Approval, Built by November?). The 20-inch Sunbury Pipeline will start in Lycoming County and travel through Montour, Union, and Northumberland counties, cross the Susquehanna River and ending up at Hummel Station Plant in Shamokin Dam in Synder County. On Wednesday, UGI broke ground on the new pipeline. The impossible just became possible!…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

Are We Building Too Many NatGas-Fired Electric Plants in M-U?
August 22, 2016August 22, 2016

A quick tutorial on the U.S. electric grid system. At a very basic level, the electric grid in our country is made up of RTOs (regional transmission organizations) and ISOs (independent system operators). Each RTO or ISO covers a single state (ISO) or multiple states (RTO). Electric generation is shifted around to meet demands in each region, overseen by whichever regional authority is in charge. For much of the Marcellus/Utica region, the electric organization in charge is the RTO called PJM (lots of acronyms!) PJM Interconnection covers all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. There has been a flurry of new natgas-fired electric plants announced over the past six months or so. The question being asked by industry analysts and bankers (who back such projects) is this: Are we building too many new electric plants, particularly in the Marcellus/Utica?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Virginia

Sierra Club Lawsuit Seeks to Block Power Plant, Atlantic Coast Pipe
August 19, 2016August 19, 2016

In March 2015, Dominion–a huge natural gas and electric utility as well as a midstream company–announced plans to build the State of Virginia’s largest natural gas powered electric generating plant, in Greensville County, VA (see Virginia’s Largest Electric Plant to be Powered by Marcellus Gas). The $1.3 billion state-of-the-art natural gas-fired electric generating station will generate 1,600 megawatts of electricity. Dominion’s own $5 billion, 554-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline will provide cheap, abundant, clean-burning Marcellus/Utica Shale gas to power it (see Atlantic Coast Pipeline Makes Progress, FERC Timing Announced). The Virginia State Corporate Commission (SCC) approved the project in March of this year (see Virginia Approves State’s Largest NatGas-Powered Electric Plant). In June, Dominion began construction (see Dominion Begins Building Virginia’s Biggest NatGas Power Station). On Tuesday, environmental Nazis from the Sierra Club and Appalachian Mountain Advocates filed a federal lawsuit (in Virginia) to stop both the power plant and the pipeline, claiming the power plant won’t use the “best available emissions control technology” and that the pipeline will leak methane like a sieve…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines

MA Supreme Court Ruling Endangers New England Gas Pipelines
August 18, 2016August 18, 2016

In September 2015, MDN told you that the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Utilities (DPU) approved long-term contracts for three utilities–Berkshire Gas, National Grid and Columbia Gas–to buy natural gas supplies from Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline, IF it gets built (see Mass. Approves Plan for Utilities to Buy Gas from New Pipeline). At the time we warned you that the global warming-mongers were not happy and threatening to sue the state. They did. The left-leaning Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) filed an appeal of the DPU’s decision with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in hopes that they can stop the project from being built if they can dry up demand from utility companies–i.e., prevent the utilities from buying NED gas (see Anti Group Sues to Stop Mass. Utilities from Buying Natural Gas). In the meantime, Kinder Morgan abandoned the NED project (see NED is Dead – Kinder Morgan Suspends $3.3B New England Pipeline). However, the lawsuit lives on. There are more pipelines that may be affected by such a decision, including Spectra Energy’s Access Northeast pipeline project–still very much alive. The worst has now happened. The MA Supreme Court has just ruled that utility companies, which are heavily regulated and the prices they can charge controlled, cannot pass along the cost of a pipeline to electric ratepayers…
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Brooke County | Electrical Generation | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | West Virginia

Progress for 3 WV NatGas Electric Plants; 1 Breaks Ground in 2016
August 17, 2016August 17, 2016

In April 2014 MDN brought you the exciting news that a father and son team, Andrew and Matthew Dorn (based in Buffalo, NY) would build a 549-megawatt electric generating plant, powered by Marcellus Shale, in Moundsville (Marshall County), WV (see Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant Coming to Marshall County, WV). The Dorns, who later named their company Energy Solutions Consortium, announced in March 2015 plans to build more plants in WV (see Big News: 3 More Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants Coming to WV). We have an update on the progress for all of the plants the Dorns want to build in the Mountain State–with a massive $2 billion investment. The short version: all projects are progressing nicely, and the Marshall County project will break ground this year…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Research

Black & Veatch Electric Industry Report – The Rise of NatGas
August 17, 2016August 17, 2016

Black & Veatch, a ginormous engineering, consulting and construction company, recently released their “2016 Strategic Directions: Electric Industry Report” (full copy below). The report captures Black & Veatch’s global engineering and thought leadership to examine how distributed electric generation, the low price of natural gas and modern customer information systems represent growth opportunities for the electric industry–even as security concerns are on the rise and legacy power generation sources (i.e. coal powered plants) are fading away, being replaced by new natgas technology. One trend MDN editor Jim Willis did not foresee when he started writing about the Marcellus industry back in January 2009 was the rise of natgas-fired electric generating plants–and the critically important role they would play in the Marcellus/Utica region. This B&V report provides useful insights into how natgas and electric generation are increasing “joined at the hip”…
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Chesapeake Utilities | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

FERC Approves Plan to Deliver NatGas to Delaware Power Plant
August 15, 2016August 15, 2016

In July MDN reported that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved Eastern Shore Natural Gas’ (ESNG) System Reliability Project (see 600 Days & Counting to Build a 7-Mile NatGas Pipeline in PA-DE). ESNG is a local gas utility serving the Delmarva Peninsula, which includes most of Delaware and portions of Maryland and Virginia. Their System Reliability Project includes 10.1 miles of new looping pipeline and a compressor station upgrade. Part of that pipeline has taken nearly two years to get approved, thanks to the insane objections of anti-fossil fuelers. It is good news that the project is moving forward. On the heals of that approval comes another FERC approval for ESNG: FERC has approved ESNG’s plan to deliver an extra 45,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas via its pipeline to service Calpine’s 309 megawatt electric generation plant in Dover, Delaware…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Radicals Harass DEP for Approving 42 Gas-Fired Electric Plants
August 15, 2016August 15, 2016

Indisputable fact #1: With the increased use of natural gas to generate electricity, the air is getting cleaner. That has been proven by both private and government studies. Indisputable fact #2: With the increased use of natural gas to generate electricity, less carbon dioxide is emitted (for those who believe in the fairy tale of man-made global warming). If you’re a warmer, you ought to love natgas use in electric plants for those two reasons alone. However, so twisted is the thinking of radical anti-fossil fuelers, they can’t bring themselves to endorse natural gas because it’s an evil, hated, awful fossil fuel. And so otherwise smart people become idiots–like those who belong to Pennsylvanians Against Fracking (PAF). The PAF gang is harassing the state Dept. of Environment Protection because the DEP has approved either the conversion of coal to natgas, or the building of new natgas power plants some 42 times since January 2014. The PAF gang are smart enough to realize more natgas-fired power plants leads to more drilling (and fracking) and their irrational philosophy dictates they must oppose it…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | New York | Tompkins County

Cayuga Power Plant Stays Open (Burning Coal) – Thx to Fractivists
August 9, 2016August 9, 2016

Credit: Ithaca Journal

In July 2013 we wrote this: “It would be hysterically funny if it weren’t so pathetically sad. So-called environmentalists don’t want an electrical generating power plant in Tompkins County, near Ithaca, NY, to switch from burning coal to natural gas because they’re afraid it will mean more fracking. Talk about cuckoo birds” (see NY Eco Group Protest to Stop Plant Converting from Coal to NatGas). In August 2013 we pointed out that if the plant can’t convert and ends up closing, the local school district is the biggest loser (see If NY Electric Plant Can’t Convert to NatGas, School Gets Screwed). The owner of the plant, Cayuga Operating Co., ended up selling it. The new owner, Riesling Power, tried to continue to process to get approval for converting the coal-fired plant to burn natural gas (not only cleaner, but also cheaper). Ultimately, the Cuomo-controlled Public Service Commission (PSC) turned down the request to convert. So guess what? The new owner certainly isn’t closing the plant after investing all that money. They’re going to keep operating it as a coal-fired plant–belching out far more pollution than a natgas plant would. Congratulations idiot fractivists (including obtuse Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, who wanted the plant closed). You’ve just screwed yourselves and all of your neighbors too!…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | M&A

NextEra Energy Sells Philly NatGas Power Plant to Starwood
August 1, 2016August 1, 2016

Marcus Hook Energy Center

Here’s something you don’t see often: one energy company selling their natural gas-fired electric generating plants to another energy company. NextEra Energy announced last Friday they are selling their 790-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle Marcus Hook Energy Center and the 50-MW simple-cycle Marcus Hook 50 Energy Center (both in Marcus Hook, on the outskirts of Philadelphia) to Starwood Energy Group Global, an energy infrastructure investment firm. The price tag is a cool $760 million. NextEra’s CEO Armando Pimentel uttered an gobbledygook statement about how it fits their long-term plans to divest the Marcus Hook plant (gives them money to spend on other things). Here’s the press release from Starwood…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

S&P Overview of Northeast Power Market – NatGas & Electric Gen
July 26, 2016July 26, 2016

Two weeks ago MDN invited you to join us for the upcoming Analyst Training in the Power and Gas Sectors, on August 8-9 in New York City (see Join MDN in NYC for SNL’s Analyst Training in the Power and Gas Sectors). Editor Jim Willis will attend the training. There are a number of MDN subscribers based in New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Washington who should attend this event. Today we have a small preview to share. German banking giant Deutsche Bank recently hosted a conference call with Steve Piper, Director of Energy Research at S&P Global. Steve is one of the seminar leaders/speakers for the upcoming Analyst Training in NYC. He had some great insights and this general overview of the Northeast power market…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

Quick Primer on U.S. Electric Grid & How it Works
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

As we’ve been saying for well more than a year now, it’s important to understand the electric generation market because natural gas and electric generation are joined at the hip. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says that natural gas will power more electric generation in this country than another other source, including coal, THIS YEAR (see EIA Says NatGas-Fired PowerGen to Reach New Record High in 2016). The bright minds at EIA have just issued what we would call a tutorial on how the electric grid works in the U.S. It’s carved up into regions (called interconnections) and smaller networks exist within those regions to ensure reliability and backup. Here’s a quick and excellent look at how electric generation works in the U.S….
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Research

EIA Says NatGas-Fired PowerGen to Reach New Record High in 2016
July 15, 2016July 15, 2016

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), our favorite government organization, is out with a prediction that natural gas-fired electric generation will hit a new record high in 2016 over 2015–delivering an average of 3.8 million megawatts of electricity each and every day. That’s up 4% in 2016 over 2015–if the numbers hold. Natgas had played second fiddle to coal generated power plants, but that all changed in April 2015 when natgas, for the first time, surpassed coal generation. Here’s the latest exciting news from the EIA that natgas is ascending…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania

PA’s Biggest NatGas Power Plant to Buy Gas Based on Electric Price
July 14, 2016July 14, 2016

Earlier this month MDN brought you the exciting news that Cabot Oil & Gas, which only drills in the Marcellus in Susquehanna County, PA, will provide the low-cost natural gas that will power Pennsylvania’s largest natgas-fired electric generating plant, to be built in neighboring Lackawanna County by Invenergy (see Cabot Cuts Deal to Supply PA’s Largest NatGas-Fired Electric Plant). No specifics were mentioned in the announcement for how much money the natgas plant will pay Cabot for the gas. Perhaps we now know why. What Invenergy will pay will be (mostly) based on the price it receives for the electricity it produces…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Meetings

Join MDN in NYC for SNL’s Analyst Training in the Power and Gas Sectors
July 12, 2016July 20, 2016

The electric power and natural gas sectors are increasingly joined at the hip, as we observed in January (see Natural Gas and Electricity in U.S. Joined at the Hip). According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, natural gas has eked out coal to be the number one source of fuel powering electric generating plants in the U.S. MDN currently has 208 stories related to natural gas and electric generation (see them here). Billions of dollars are being spent just in the Marcellus/Utica on new natgas-fired electric plants (OH example: List of 7 Announced NatGas-Fired Electric Plants Planned in Ohio). Yes, natgas and powergen together is a big, hairy deal. So when MDN editor Jim Willis spotted a training seminar dedicated to the topic of natgas and powergen, SNL’s “Analyst Training in the Power and Gas Sectors,” a 2-day training event in New York City on August 8-9, 2016, he just had to go. And so he is! Jim is inviting MDN readers (analysts, investors, traders, others) who work for investment firms, banks, consultancies, engineering firms and other related companies to attend too. MDN has a number of subscribers who are based in New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Washington who should attend this event. Be forewarned: it’s not cheap. But Jim considers it to be the best possible training you can get on the topic of natgas and power generation. Here’s the details…
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