EnergyOnline.com News

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Washington Plant Nearly Operational

5/23/2002

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LCG, May 23, 2002--A new power plant southeast of Tacoma, Wash., with a capacity of 249 megawatts, is scheduled to become operational on July 1, according to Frederickson Power.

Initially, the gas-fired combustion turbine plant will only supply 125 megawatts, due to the very low wholesale power prices prevailing in the Northwest ($22/MWh on Tuesday). The owner, Epcor Power Development Corp., believes it would lose money if it were to make the entire capacity available. The 125 megawatts will be sold to public utilities in Grays Harbor, Benton and Franklin counties.

The plant site has room for an additional plant of equal size, but Epcor has no plans for at least the next year to build one. Approximately one-third of about 90 proposed plants in the Northwest have been cancelled or put on hold. Of Epcor's inability to find a buyer for the plant's entire output, Chris Heffring, president of Epcor Power said, "Prices are low now. We hope they come back up."
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