Construction of Duke Energy’s 1,640 MW Citrus County CCGT is getting underway, with foundation work having started for the first steam generator and HRSG. Ground was broken in early March with a view to getting the first 820 MW power unit operational in spring 2018.
As for the second power block, the circulation water pipe is being installed while cooling towers for block 1 and 2 are being set up, a Duke spokesman explained. “Concrete is curing for the cooling tower 1 and 2 sump basin walls, and installation of the basin floor of cooling tower 1 and 2 has started,” he said, singling the delivery of vital generating equipment.
Unloading of turbines, generators and HRSGs requires a significant number of laydown and warehouse personnel on site, while piping specialists are busy placing all spools for the circulating water pipe of block 1 underground. During the height of construction up to 700 temporary jobs will be created; and once construction is complete, 50 to 75 workers will be needed to operate the plant, Duke stated.
First 820 MW unit due online in early 2018
Construction officially commenced on March 2 and the aim is to get the first 820 MW unit into commercial operation in spring 2018, with the second equally-sized unit to follow suit by December 2018.
The CCGT be fuelled with natural gas via a new pipeline that Sabal Trail Transmission constructing at a cost of $3 billion. The pipeline will start in Alabama, extend through Georgia and end in Central Florida. Duke Energy committed to invest $225 in Sabal Trail Transmission in May 2015 and became a 7.5% owner of the pipeline.
As one of the key electricity providers in Florida, Duke Energy is pursuing a strategy to build critical gas pipeline infrastructure in the Southeast of the United States. To that end, the utility in September 2014 became a 40% owner of the proposed 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline that will cross West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.
Sabal Trail to help Florida expand gas power
Florida uses more gas to generate electricity than any U.S. state except Texas, but it has minimal domestic production, no storage capabilities and only two major pipeline systems available to transport gas to the peninsula. Both pipeline systems are approaching full capacity – so a swift expansion is needed.
Though Sabal Trail project partners are prepared to splash out over $3.5 billion to build two gas transit pipelines that will alleviate current supply bottlenecks – land right issues hampered a timely start. Construction works of the 515-mile pipeline are now unlikely to get going before early next year. They were initially meant to start in late summer this year for operations to commence in May 2017.
Joint venture partners in Sabal Trail Transmission - Spectra Energy (59.5%), NextEra Energy (33%) and Duke Energy (7.5%) will bear the cost to build a mammoth pipeline from south-western Alabama to a new Central Florida Hub south of Orlando, where it will interconnect with the state’s existing gas grid. Florida Southeast Connection, meanwhile, will spend about $550 million to build a separate pipeline from Sabal Trail's Central Florida Hub to FPL's Martin Clean Energy Center in Indiantown.
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the state’s largest utility and gas user, will be an anchor customer for the new gas pipelines, but third party users will also be able to contract for capacity.