Electrical Generation

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    NY Gov. Cuomo Says He’ll Block All New Gas-Fired Elec Plants

    We’re simply at a loss for words. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is not a dictator, or is he? Cuomo said on a recent campaign stop that he will unilaterally, illegally, block all new “fossil fuel” powered electric plants in the state, including clean-burning natural gas-fired plants. The man is delusional. He doesn’t have that power–unless the sheeple that live in NY allow him to get away with it. We New Yorkers must rise up and stop this megalomaniac before he plunges NY into the ash heap of history. During a campaign event last Thursday, May 10, in Manhattan, Cuomo said with respect to new gas-fired electric plants: “I have not approved any new ones, and I won’t.” He also said that the state currently has gas-fired plants “all over the state” and that the “long-term plan is to close them.” Breathtaking arrogance! We’ve checked the state Constitution and we don’t find anything in it that vests the governor with the power to ban specific types of businesses in the state, whether for energy or otherwise. Where does he get off?…
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    PJM to Study Electric Grid “Fuel Security” of Relying on NatGas

    The trend is undeniable that coal powered electric generating plants are closing, and in their place, natural gas-fired plants are being built. In fact, natgas is also bumping off old nuclear plants, which presents a delicious dilemma for enviro freaks who have traditionally hated nukes for their waste that lasts a thousands years, yet because the electricity they produce is “carbon free” they now support nukes. Grid resiliency is the watchword. If the electric grid depends too much on a single source, can the entire grid become threatened should that source dramatically increase in price, or worse yet, dry up? What’s the likelihood of that happening? That’s what PJM, the largest regional transmission organization (RTO) in the U.S. (that oversees the electric grid in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest) will study in the coming months. In other words, if coal plants, and nuclear plants, continue to shut down as they have been, and we’re left with mainly natural gas-fired plants in their place (as well as renewables and other sources like hydro), is that a “threat” to the entire grid?…
    Read More “PJM to Study Electric Grid “Fuel Security” of Relying on NatGas”

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    Gas-Fired Elec Plant Near Indianapolis Starts Up, Fueled by M-U?

    IPL’s Eagle Valley Generating Station, located in Martinsville, Indiana (click for larger version)

    Seems like a day doesn’t by that we don’t notice yet another natural gas-fired electric plant project has been announced, or in this case, has come online! Here’s a project not previously on our radar. Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL) built and recently brought online a 671-megawatt combined-cycle natural gas-fired electric plant about 30 miles southwest of downtown Indianapolis. The new plant can power up to 370,000 homes. Gas-fired plants are a huge market for Marcellus/Utica gas. “But Jim,” you say. “This plant is in Indiana! There’s no Marcellus/Utica gas in Indiana. In fact, Rover, NEXUS and other pipelines don’t go through Indiana, so why are you excited about this plant?” Good question. We’re excited because there ARE pipelines in the vicinity that flow our gas–including the mighty Rockies Express (REX), which was reversed in June 2014 and now flows our gas all the way to points in Missouri (see Rockies Express Pipeline Reverses Flow from Utica to Midwest). According to a statement issued by IPL, the new Eagle Valley gas-fired plant can access “low-cost fuel” from the Rockies Express Pipeline and Texas Gas interstate pipelines. That is, Marcellus/Utica gas…
    Read More “Gas-Fired Elec Plant Near Indianapolis Starts Up, Fueled by M-U?”

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    WV Coal Industry Continues to Fight NatGas Electric Plants

    West Virginia has a long, proud history as a coal producer. And according to West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney, some 95% of the electricity produced and used in the Mountain State comes from coal-fired plants. However, natural gas burns cleaner than coal, and frankly, natgas is now cheaper than coal. Yet WV still has not permitted or allowed a single new gas-fired plant to be constructed. Why not? The obvious answer is because Big Coal is pushing back and pushing back hard. Last September WV’s Secretary of Commerce, Woody Thrasher, admitted publicly that his beloved state is unfriendly to new natgas-fired electric plant projects (see WV Sec Commerce Says State Unfriendly to Gas-Fired Power Plants). In a speech before state legislators, Thrasher said while Ohio has built 19 new gas-fired power plants, and Pennsylvania has built 22 new gas-fired power plants, WV has built NONE. Zero. Nada. Even though perhaps a dozen such projects have now been proposed. When will the situation change? If Big Coal has its way, it won’t…
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    NTE Energy Plans 1000 MW Gas-Fired Electric Plant in SC

    NTE Energy, headquartered in Saint Augustine, FL, buys and builds electric generating plants and transmission facilities throughout North America. We’ve reported on a number of NTE projects, including a report from April 2016 when NTE announced three new gas-fired electric plants that will be fed by Marcellus/Utica gas (see NTE Energy Developing 3 NatGas-Fired Electric Plants in CT/NC/OH). You can add one more Marcellus-fired plant to the list. NTE announced earlier this week it will build a mammoth 1,000 megawatt (1 gigawatt) gas-fired plant in Anderson County, South Carolina. The $1 billion project will generate enough electricity to power 1 million SC homes and businesses. The announcement about the project does not specifically mention M-U gas feeding it, but since the mighty Transco Pipeline passes through Anderson and has been reversed to bring M-U gas from north to south, there’s no doubt about the gas that will feed the new plant. You may recall last month we reported on Duke Energy starting operations at a new 750-megawatt gas-fired plant in Anderson County (see Duke Energy SC Gas-Fired Plant Starts Up – Marcellus Connection?). An obvious observation: Big gas pipelines are a magnet for new electric generating plant projects…
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    Orange County, NY Electric Plant to Start Up in June

    As the Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) Valley Energy Center natural gas-fired electric generating plant in Orange County, NY gets ready to begin service, some of the neighbors are not happy with noises coming from the plant. They hope local town officials can meet with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and convince him to lean on the Dept. of Environmental Conservation to revoke permits for the plant that CPV just spent almost a billion dollars to build. We told you a month ago the only sliver of a hope antis have to prevent the plant from starting up is to convince the DEC to block it (see Big Green Begs NY DEC to Revoke Orange Co. Power Plant Permits). It’s not beyond the realm of possibility, but also not likely that the DEC will step in now. At a Wawayanda Town Board meeting last Thursday residents and town leaders discussed the noise issue and what to do about it, which is the focus of the article below. However, one tiny reference in the article is what caught our attention. The plant is waiting for a pipeline “lateral” from the Millennium Pipeline to be completed to flow natgas to the plant, which is what will fire the plant. You may recall the DEC tried to block that pipeline and was overruled by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The DEC took FERC to court and the DEC lost (see Court Rejects NY DEC Attempt to Stop Short Power Plant Pipeline). The short 7.8-mile “Valley Lateral” pipeline is now almost complete. According to the article below (and the thing that caught our attention) is that CPV expects the pipeline to be done and flowing natural gas to the plant in June. When it does, the plant will start up…
    Read More “Orange County, NY Electric Plant to Start Up in June”

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    M-U Region Adding 43% of All New Gas-Fired Electric in 2018

    Yesterday the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued a report saying it predicts 32 gigawatts (GW) of new electric generating capacity to come online this year, in 2018. Of that 32 GW, 21 GW (or 66%) will come from new natural gas-fired plants. And of that 21 GW of new gas-fired generation, Pennsylvania alone will generate 5.2 GW, and Maryland and Virginia will each generate 1.9 GW. Put another way, 9 GW out of 21 GW (or 43%) of all new demand for natural gas for power plants is happening right here in the Marcellus/Utica region. As we have observed on many occasions, power generation is a very important source of new demand for abundant and cheap Marcellus/Utica gas…
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    Dominion Energy 1Q18: Important Updates on Key Projects

    Late last week Dominion Energy issued its first quarter 2018 financial and operational update. Dominion is not only a large utility company (electric and gas), but also a huge pipeline company. Dominion has it’s fingers in a lot of Marcellus/Utica pies, so we like to keep track of the company and what it says about various critical projects for our region. Dominion CEO Tom Farrell had a lot of interesting updates, including updates for: Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a $6.5 billion Dominion pipeline from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina; Cove Point, the $4 billion LNG export facility that began commercial operations in April; Greensville County (VA) Power Station, a $1.3 billion natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant; and the proposed merger with SCANA Corporation, the main electric and gas company for much of South Carolina. Buckle up, there’s lots of news here…
    Read More “Dominion Energy 1Q18: Important Updates on Key Projects”

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    List of 6 NatGas-Fired Electric Plants Coming to Michigan

    Last June DTE Energy filed paperwork in Michigan to build a new “state-of-the-art” natural gas-fired power plant in St. Clair County (see DTE Energy Files to Build New Natgas-Fired Elec Plant in Michigan). The gas-fired plant will produce 1,100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 850,000 homes. If all goes according to plan, the new $1 billion plant will go online in 2022, helping to offset three coal-fired plants set to retire by 2023. Although environmental groups launched a campaign against the project (see Michigan Anti Fossil Fuelers Oppose DTE Gas-Fired Plant Proposal), their efforts were too little too late. Last week the Michigan Public Service Commission approved the project! In addition, we spotted an article about five more natgas-fired plants planned for Michigan (full list below). As we always point out, there is a considerable amount of Utica/Marcellus gas heading into Michigan via the Rover and NEXUS pipelines. These plants are all potential customers for our gas supplies…
    Read More “List of 6 NatGas-Fired Electric Plants Coming to Michigan”

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    Cabot Says 2 NEPA Gas-Fired Plants Go Operational by June 1

    Lackawanna Energy Center – concept drawing

    Tucked away in the comments made by Cabot Oil & Gas CEO Dan Dinges on an investor conference call last Friday, MDN picked up on what we consider big news: Both the Moxie Freedom (Luzerne County, Wilkes-Barre area) and Lackawanna Energy Center (Lackawanna County, Scranton area) Marcellus-fired power plants are about to go fully operational–sometime in May (by June 1). Both plants will exclusively use Marcellus gas extracted by Cabot in Susquehanna County, PA. For nearly a year the plan had been for Moxie Freedom to be built and online in May of this year, so that announcement isn’t so much a surprise as it is welcomed news (see NEPA Moxie Freedom Power Plant on Track for May 2018 Launch). However, in March we reported Lackawanna was going through a “short” commissioning stage and would be firing up at any time (see Gas-Fired Power Plant Near Scranton Nears Startup; Yellow Smoke). The Lackawanna project has faced fierce local resistance. A group of Democrats got themselves elected to the local town board in Jessup, taking office in January, trying their best to block startup of the Lackawanna project by employing a Big Green lawyer (who works for Riverkeeper) at a cost to taxpayers of $225/hour. Looks like it was wasted money as Dinges says Lackawanna will be operational, with large volumes of Cabot gas flowing to it, within weeks…
    Read More “Cabot Says 2 NEPA Gas-Fired Plants Go Operational by June 1”

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    NJ Town Ready to Approve Meadowlands Marcellus-Fired Power Plant

    MDN reported two weeks ago that a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi wants to build a huge, new $1.5 billion natural gas-fired electric generating plant in the Meadowlands (New Jersey), just outside of New York City (see Marcellus Electric Plant Proposed for Meadowlands to Power NYC). The North Bergen Liberty Generating Project, at 1,200 megawatts, will help replace some of the electricity lost when the Indian Point Nuclear plant located in New York along the Hudson River closes down in 2021. We suspect that since the mighty Transco pipeline, which flows mostly Marcellus molecules in the northeast, will feed the Meadowlands project, this plant will become an important new market for PA Marcellus production. Of course the plant is being opposed by radicals in the nutty Sierra Club and other Big Green groups who despise all fossil fuels and demand that you and I end our use of fossil fuels to make them feel better about themselves. Fortunately the town where the plant will be located, North Bergen, has rational adults leading it. North Bergen officials are jazzed about the plant and by all indications will soon vote to approve it…
    Read More “NJ Town Ready to Approve Meadowlands Marcellus-Fired Power Plant”

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    Central Illinois Gas-Fired Power Plant One Step Closer to Reality

    EmberClear Pawnee proposed plant site – click for larger version

    Last June MDN reported that EmberClear, based in Houston, TX, wants to build a $1 billion, 1,100 megawatt combined-cycle natural gas-fired plant about 15 miles from Springfield, Illinois, in Pawnee (see NatGas and Coal Go to War in Central Illinois). The City of Springfield’s City Water, Light and Power (CWLP) owns and operates a 550-MW coal-fired generating system. According to the state’s coal industry, a new gas-fired plant would rob CWLP’s plant of business, costing jobs and money. However, it appears the city and CWLP doesn’t view the proposed gas-fired plant as a threat. City alderman have just approved a deal for the new Pawnee plant to purchase “at least” 80,000 gallons of water per day from CWLP for a cool $29,000 per month. The water is a critical component in operating the plant. No water, no plant. This is just the latest indicator that Springfield is on board with the plant. Last May the city approved stretching the boundaries of the Springfield-Sangamon Enterprise Zone, to give the Pawnee project millions in tax savings. Here’s the latest news–that the Pawnee project has just taken another big step closer to the start of construction by striking a deal with CWLP…
    Read More “Central Illinois Gas-Fired Power Plant One Step Closer to Reality”

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    NEPA Hospital Building Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant

    Concept drawing for Geisinger’s $18 million Central Utility Plant

    A hospital in Wilkes-Barre, PA–the Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center–has begun work on building a new $18 million Marcellus gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant. The new plant will cut the hospital’s energy consumption by 40% and save it around $1.5 million in energy costs annually. Cool! This is not the first time we’ve written about the trend among PA hospitals to build their own mini power plants, powered by natural gas. Last time we checked, in November, there were a dozen hospitals across the Keystone State that use CHP technology (see Lancaster Hospital Produces Its Own Electricity Using Marcellus Gas). Hospitals are not the only organizations that use CHP–universities, manufacturing plants and others use CHP too (see Website Connects Lenders/Borrows for Combined Heat & Power Projects). Here’s the news about the newest PA hospital to use CHP–an important new market for PA’s abundant, clean-burning Marcellus gas…
    Read More “NEPA Hospital Building Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant”

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    Will New WV Exec Order Speed Up Gas-Fired Power Plant Projects?

    WV Gov. Jim Justice

    Yesterday West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice issued a new Executive Order (EO)–the third of his tenure thus far. The new EO cuts through regulatory red tape and instructs all WV governmental departments that issue permits to prioritize “permits for projects of critical economic concern.” That would include permits for Marcellus/Utica Shale projects. The EO requires agencies to issue written reports to the permit applicant, the executive director of the state Development Office, and to the Governor, explaining why they haven’t gotten off their rear-ends and acted on a given critical permit. As we read about this interesting development, it immediately struck us that we hope the EO also affects the permitting process for new natural gas-fired electric plants. Last September WV Secretary of Commerce, Woody Thrasher, admitted publicly that his beloved state is unfriendly to new natgas-fired electric plant projects (see WV Sec Commerce Says State Unfriendly to Gas-Fired Power Plants). In a speech before state legislators, Thrasher said while Ohio has built 19 new gas-fired power plants, and Pennsylvania has built 22 new gas-fired power plants, WV has built NONE. Zero. Nada. Even though perhaps a dozen such projects have been proposed. The first sliver of light in that respect came in February of this year when finally the very first such project in WV was approved by the Public Service Commission (see Brooke County WV Power Plant Wins State Approval). So when we read about the new EO signed by Justice, our thoughts didn’t jump to permits for shale wells, our thoughts turned to permits stalled for new electric power plant projects–which use Marcellus/Utica shale gas…
    Read More “Will New WV Exec Order Speed Up Gas-Fired Power Plant Projects?”

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    Lordstown, OH Power Plant Investor Tries to Block 2nd Plant

    Be careful who you sell your energy projects to. That’s the lesson we take away from a spat that’s developed in Trumbull County, OH over a proposed second Utica gas-fired electric plant in Lordstown. Clean Energy Future (CEF) is currently building the Lordstown Energy Center, and has been since June 2016 (see Lordstown Energy Center Breaks Ground on $890M Electric Plant). CEF then proposed, and got the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) to approve, plans to build a second Utica-fired plant next door to the first (see Ohio Approves 2 Utica-Fired Power Plants in Guernsey, Trumbull Counties). As is typically the case, CEF (the builder) sold most of the first project to investors. In this case the new majority owner for the first power plant is Macquarie, an international equity firm. CEF sued Macquarie in September saying the company is preventing CEF from building the second plant. Macquarie says if a second plant gets built in the same location, the first plant (now owned by Macquarie) will take a $6.7 million hit on earnings each year. Macquarie wants CEF to pay them that amount annually when/if the second plant gets built. To which CEF says, “They’re looking for an extortion payment.” CEF is threatening to sue Macquarie for $100 million for delaying construction. A judge will now decide if construction can proceed and whether or not CEF will need to make annual payments to Macquarie…
    Read More “Lordstown, OH Power Plant Investor Tries to Block 2nd Plant”

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    Michigan Anti Fossil Fuelers Oppose DTE Gas-Fired Plant Proposal

    (PRNewsfoto/DTE Energy)

    Last June DTE Energy filed paperwork in Michigan to build a new “state-of-the-art” natural gas-fired power plant in St. Clair County (see DTE Energy Files to Build New Natgas-Fired Elec Plant in Michigan). The gas-fired plant will produce 1,100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 850,000 homes. If all goes according to plan, the new $1 billion plant will go online in 2022, helping to offset three coal-fired plants set to be retired by 2023. The process is long to approve and then build such a project, with many hoops to jump through. The first major hurdle, perhaps THE major hurdle, is an approval by Michigan utility regulators. The deadline for that approval is almost here–April 27. With the deadline looming, Big Green, with its ongoing, irrational hatred of all fossil fuels, has ramped up opposition to the project. An approval by regulators is being complicated by the fact that DTE filed two months after new energy laws went into effect, but before the Public Service Commission finalized its guidelines under those new laws, in December. Apparently there’s an issue with the application as it relates to the December guidelines–an issue that would potentially delay the project another year or more…
    Read More “Michigan Anti Fossil Fuelers Oppose DTE Gas-Fired Plant Proposal”