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Gulf Power Accelerates Plans To Switch Plant Crist To Natural Gas Delivered Through North Escambia Pipeline
November 11, 2020
Gulf Power is accelerating plants to switch Plant Crist to natural gas delivered by a pipeline through North Escambia.
Tuesday, Gulf Power notified the Florida Public Service Commission that it plans to retire the plant’s coal assets early and switch to 100% natural gas. That, the company says, will result in benefits to the local community as well as cost savings for customers.
Converting coal-burning units to run on natural gas is a major piece of the modernization underway at Plant Crist, along with the addition of four new, highly efficient combustion turbines to provide greater reliability and efficiency for the energy grid and a new natural gas pipeline to provide additional natural gas for the plant. By eliminating the use of coal at Plant Crist, Gulf Power will reduce the plant’s carbon emissions rate by 40% – the equivalent to taking an estimated 297,000 cars off the road annually – and reduce operating costs for customers.
Over the past several months, Gulf Power has installed an underground natural gas pipeline that runs 39 miles from the Florida Gas Transmission Pipeline near Century, through McDavid, Molino and Cantonment, to the company’s Plant Crist.
The retirement of coal at Plant Crist was accelerated by Hurricane Sally, which caused damage to the plant’s coal equipment. The company determined that it is in the best interests of its customers to accelerate the modernization instead of repairing the coal equipment.
“Retiring coal at Plant Crist will end our use of coal in Florida and help usher in a new, cleaner energy era for Gulf Power,” said Marlene Santos, president of Gulf Power. “Ending our use of coal delivers benefits for our customers and our communities through lower costs along with cleaner emissions. We look forward to continuing to invest in cleaner energy solutions for Northwest Florida, including more efficient natural gas technology as well as emissions-free solar farms.”
Gulf Power is seeking approval to adjust the company’s Environmental Cost Recovery Clause (ECRC) factor for 2021 to reflect the savings associated with the early retirement of coal at Plant Crist and to begin recovering storm restoration costs for Sally. If approved by the FPSC, both adjustments to customer bills would likely take effect in March 2021 and result in a net decrease in the typical residential customer bill of $0.73.
Pictured top: Bright yellow new pipes threaded throughout the inside and outside of Plant Crist this year are the visible signs of the coal to natural gas conversion that will allow the plant to run 100% on U.S. produced natural gas. Pictured inset: A crane hoists one of the larger pieces of new equipment at Plant Crist, a gas heater, into place at the Plant Crist gas yard as part of the coal to natural gas conversion. The heater will warm the natural gas to keep it from freezing in the pressure control valves that send the gas from the pipeline to the power plant. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
8 Responses to “Gulf Power Accelerates Plans To Switch Plant Crist To Natural Gas Delivered Through North Escambia Pipeline”
Need to keep crist plant for backup. Going to gas is not like cooking with gas. GP just creating a steam plant. What happens if pipelines bust/fail need a backup plan. At least coal can be brought in by barge.
REGARDING:
“With proper emission control, the acidiation you speak of is mitigated.’
Just using natural gas reduces the carbon dioxide per unit of energy to about half that of coal. And, yes much coal has a lot of sulfer which makes for acids, but the carbon dioxide itself produces carbonic acid in water. Without trapping it, there is little mitigation possible.
Soda gonna be soda. Seltzer like.
If we had perfect batteries, we could use noncarbon sources to charge them. We don’t, but they ARE getting better. In the meantime, natural gas is a nice transition source.
David for improvements
David Huie Green,
I agree, there is a downside to fossil fuels. And I am all for Solar and Wind. They are just not consistent enough for continous usage, imo.
“Nuclear would be best”. Maybe, maybe not. Too many Nuc plants are built near water, rivers, etc, and near fault zones. Not hard to research. And the waste. Meltdowns happen, granted not very often. But have lasting effects.
“Up until four years ago he was the worst president I have known” I guess it is a matter of opinion. Imo, the worst in my lifetime was the previous, by far.
You carry on.
WOW “Result in a net decrease in the typical residential customer bill of $0.73″
CAN’T EVEN BUY A CUP OF COFFEE.
When it is time for us to pay it is always DOLLARS not PENNIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr. Green. The amount of natural gas is finite, of course. It will run out in about 200 years. (Or so they say) The natural gas feeding Crist comes from mainly, offshore *gasp* Majority of the state of Florida power is natural gas fired. I agree, coal is pretty nasty. It far and away is cleaner than coal. With proper emission control, the acidiation you speak of is mitigated.
REGARDING:
“Biden wants to end natural gas”
Not NOW, this instant, but in time, yes. It’s use will end eventually because there is only so much of it.
It is the cleanest and safest fossil fuel, but it IS a Greenhouse gas and its waste is a Greenhouse gas which is also acidifying the oceans.
Nuclear would be best but wind and solar are good too.
Coal is nasty and dangerous to mine. The country was getting away from it until President Carter pointed out that we had over a thousand year supply of it and the Middle East is an unreliable source of energy.
He also opposed using natural gas as industrial fuel because he thought it should be reserved for home heating exclusively. Mexico offered to sell us plenty but he rejected the offer.
He also shut down recycling of nuclear fuel and then said nuclear power was a bad option because of the nuclear “waste” he refused to recycle the fuel.
Modern reactor systems can safely use every bit of what is called waste and provide energy more than that thousand year mark as well without mining another ounce.
President Carter is a good man but was a poor president. Up until four years ago he was the worst president I had known.
David for better batteries
And now Biden wants to end natural gas, and install solar panels and windmills everywhere. LOL
I think this will be great for the community on emissions, and for the local natural gas plants that sale to Florida gas.