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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In late August, only a few days after it abandoned a proposed nuclear plant in South Carolina, Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina) announced it was pulling the plug on another long-proposed and oft-delayed nuclear plant, the Levy County Nuclear Power Station in Florida.
The proposed Levy project was scheduled to install two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. Westinghouse went bankrupt earlier this year. The same kind of reactors reactors are being installed in the Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Power Station in Georgia. AP1000 reactors reactors also were planned to be installed in the now-cancelled Virgil C. Summer nuclear power project. For more on the cancelled Summer project, see August 1, 2017, article - Utilities Abandon Construction of Summer Nuclear Plant in South Carolina. For more on Duke's decision to cancel construction of the Lee nuclear plant in South Carolina, see September 5, 2017, article - Summer Nuclear Units' Cancellation Followed by Two Other Terminations.
"It has been an altogether miserable summer for the U.S. nuclear power industry," said Britt Burt, Industrial Info's vice president of research for the Global Power Industry.
Originally conceived as a one-unit facility, Levy expanded to two units totaling about 2,200 megawatts (MW) in 2008. Back then, construction kickoff was scheduled for 2012, and the cost was estimated at about $15.5 billion. Duke expected Unit 1 to be operating by late 2016. Unit 2 was supposed to be generating electricity by the end of 2017.
Controversy is the only thing the Levy project ever generated. Florida regulators permitted the state's utilities to begin collecting funds for pre-construction activities before plants were completed. To date, Duke has collected an estimated $800 million from its customers for the Levy project. In announcing it was abandoning that project, Duke said it would absorb about $150 million in costs that had not yet been collected from customers.
"The fallout from this (Levy) folly made Duke radioactive to many of its customers, a hard lesson it has now learned," the Tampa Bay Times editorialized. "The change of heart, which should have occurred years ago, could help Duke repair its corporate image and become more customer-friendly. It's about time."
Duke's Levy project has been listed as "on hold" for about four years in Industrial Info's North American Project Platform. Duke received its combined construction and operations license (COL) from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) (Rockville, Maryland) in late 2016. The most recent cost estimate for the two-unit project was $24 billion. According to the most recent construction schedule, dirt was scheduled to begin getting turned in mid-2021, and the first unit was supposed to be online in 2025.
"As a result of the Toshiba-Westinghouse bankruptcy, Westinghouse and Toshiba will no longer construct and support new nuclear projects such as Levy," Duke spokeswoman Ann Marie Varga told WFAE Radio in Charlotte.
Instead of building the Levy nuclear plant, Duke asked Florida regulators to approve a $6 billion capital spending plan that includes building 700 MW of solar generation over four years, 50MW of electricity storage and various other programs, including advanced digital meters, grid upgrades and new customer billing programs. The utility said these investments "pave the way to a smarter energy future for Florida customers."
The 700 MW of new solar includes the previously announced construction of a 75-MW solar plant in Hamilton County. Construction of that project is scheduled to begin in early 2018. That would be Duke's sixth solar generation facility in Florida.
In an August 29 statement, Harry Sideris, Duke Energy state president - Florida, said, "This settlement allows us to move forward to create a smarter energy future for our customers and communities. It resolves the future of the Levy Nuclear Project and reinforces our commitment to building cost-effective solar in Florida. It also makes smart investments that will offer customers more information, choices and control of their energy needs while also providing greater reliability."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.
The proposed Levy project was scheduled to install two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. Westinghouse went bankrupt earlier this year. The same kind of reactors reactors are being installed in the Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Power Station in Georgia. AP1000 reactors reactors also were planned to be installed in the now-cancelled Virgil C. Summer nuclear power project. For more on the cancelled Summer project, see August 1, 2017, article - Utilities Abandon Construction of Summer Nuclear Plant in South Carolina. For more on Duke's decision to cancel construction of the Lee nuclear plant in South Carolina, see September 5, 2017, article - Summer Nuclear Units' Cancellation Followed by Two Other Terminations.
"It has been an altogether miserable summer for the U.S. nuclear power industry," said Britt Burt, Industrial Info's vice president of research for the Global Power Industry.
Originally conceived as a one-unit facility, Levy expanded to two units totaling about 2,200 megawatts (MW) in 2008. Back then, construction kickoff was scheduled for 2012, and the cost was estimated at about $15.5 billion. Duke expected Unit 1 to be operating by late 2016. Unit 2 was supposed to be generating electricity by the end of 2017.
Controversy is the only thing the Levy project ever generated. Florida regulators permitted the state's utilities to begin collecting funds for pre-construction activities before plants were completed. To date, Duke has collected an estimated $800 million from its customers for the Levy project. In announcing it was abandoning that project, Duke said it would absorb about $150 million in costs that had not yet been collected from customers.
"The fallout from this (Levy) folly made Duke radioactive to many of its customers, a hard lesson it has now learned," the Tampa Bay Times editorialized. "The change of heart, which should have occurred years ago, could help Duke repair its corporate image and become more customer-friendly. It's about time."
Duke's Levy project has been listed as "on hold" for about four years in Industrial Info's North American Project Platform. Duke received its combined construction and operations license (COL) from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) (Rockville, Maryland) in late 2016. The most recent cost estimate for the two-unit project was $24 billion. According to the most recent construction schedule, dirt was scheduled to begin getting turned in mid-2021, and the first unit was supposed to be online in 2025.
"As a result of the Toshiba-Westinghouse bankruptcy, Westinghouse and Toshiba will no longer construct and support new nuclear projects such as Levy," Duke spokeswoman Ann Marie Varga told WFAE Radio in Charlotte.
Instead of building the Levy nuclear plant, Duke asked Florida regulators to approve a $6 billion capital spending plan that includes building 700 MW of solar generation over four years, 50MW of electricity storage and various other programs, including advanced digital meters, grid upgrades and new customer billing programs. The utility said these investments "pave the way to a smarter energy future for Florida customers."
The 700 MW of new solar includes the previously announced construction of a 75-MW solar plant in Hamilton County. Construction of that project is scheduled to begin in early 2018. That would be Duke's sixth solar generation facility in Florida.
In an August 29 statement, Harry Sideris, Duke Energy state president - Florida, said, "This settlement allows us to move forward to create a smarter energy future for our customers and communities. It resolves the future of the Levy Nuclear Project and reinforces our commitment to building cost-effective solar in Florida. It also makes smart investments that will offer customers more information, choices and control of their energy needs while also providing greater reliability."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.
