Commercial Operation Imminent for Bastrop Energy's Texas Power Plant

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Bastrop Energy Partners LP expects commercial operation of a 535 mega-watt (MW) power plant near Cedar Creek, Texas, possibly as early as Saturday May 11th. The plant was built by a partnership of FPL Energy LLC, a subsidiary of FPL Group (NYSE:FPL) (Juno Beach, Florida), and El Paso Merchant Energy, a subsidiary of El Paso Corporation (NYSE:EP) (Houston, Texas). When operational, the plant will play a major role in supplying reliable electricity to the high growth Austin, Texas market.

Construction of the plant started in late 2000 and Duke/Fluor Daniel provided engineering and construction services for the project. The Bastrop Energy Center is a combined cycle power plant utilizing two natural gas fired General Electric (GE) Frame 7FA combustion turbine generator sets, two Aalborg heat recovery steam generators (HRSG), and a Toshiba steam turbine/generator.

Private Energy Producer (PEP) FPL Energy was created in 1998 and operates over 70 sites in 12 states for over 4,400MW. With another 5,600MW in development, the company is expected to reach 10,000MW by the end of 2003.

El Paso Merchant Energy manages marketing and generation activities through its five business units in the United States and abroad. The group has domestic generating assets of over 8,200MW and recently opened trading floors in Houston, London, and Rio de Janeiro. The company trades crude oil, refined products, natural gas, power, natural gas liquids, weather derivatives, foreign currency, interests rates, emission credits, and coal.

Duke/Fluor Daniel was formed in 1989 through a joint venture of Duke Energy Corporation and Fluor Daniel Incorporated and is a leader in power plant design, construction, and complete life cycle services. The company is focused on fossil fueled power projects and offers expertise in new power plants, EPC services, repowering of existing plants, and O&M services. Duke/Fluor Daniel has major offices in Houston, Texas, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Aliso Viejo, California.