Coal

Duke Energy to Replace Florida Coal Units with Gas Generation

Duke Energy Florida will retire five coal-fired units in response to environmental rules, but it plans to replace them with new gas-fired generation, including a $1.5 billion combined cycle plant in Citrus County that could come online as soon as 2018, the company said on Tuesday.

Duke Energy’s Florida-based subsidiary said it would retire Units 1 and 2 at the four-unit 2.3-GW Crystal River Steam Plant “due to changing federal environmental regulations,” when the new 1.6-GW Citrus County gas plant comes online. Three steam plants built in the 1950s at the Suwannee Plant near Live Oak are also slated for retirement in 2016. The company plans to replace those plants with two simple cycle combustion turbine generators with a total capacity of 320 MW beginning in 2016. The two units are estimated to cost about $197 million, including financing costs.

Plans for the three major construction projects—the Citrus County project and two Suwannee Plant generators—still require the Florida Public Service Commission’s approval. A commission ruling is expected later this year, the company said.

Sonal Patel, associate editor (@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel)

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