First Phase of Gila River Power Station Scheduled to be Operational in May

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The Gila River Power Station is a $1.2 billion, 2,368-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle, natural gas-fired power plant, situated on a 1,000-acre agricultural parcel, outside Gila Bend, Arizona. The facility is designed with eight 171-megawatt General Electric MS7001FA combustion turbines, eight Alstom heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs), plus four 250-megawatt General Electric single flow axial exhaust condensing steam turbines. Construction started in March 2001.

The Gila River Power Station will be brought into service in four phases. Each phase includes of two combustion turbines, two HRSGs, and a steam turbine. The first phase is scheduled for commercial operation on May 1, 2003, the second phase in June, the third phase in July, and the final phase expected in August. Gila River was designed to sell electricity primarily throughout Arizona. It is also expected to sell excess energy to wholesale customers in California, Nevada, and New Mexico.

National Energy Production Corporation (NEPCO) (Bothell, Washington) was selected as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the plant. NEPCO is a full service engineering, and construction company with experience in the design, operation, and maintenance of high efficiency simple/combined-cycle, cogeneration plants. The company was acquired later on by SNC-Lavalin (Montreal, Canada). It is Canada's largest, and one of the world's leading, engineering and construction firms.

The Gila River is being constructed under a joined-venture of TECO Power Services and Panda Energy International Incorporated. TECO Power Services builds, owns, and operates electric generation facilities. It is a subsidiary of TECO Energy Incorporated (NYSE: TE) (Tampa, Florida), a diversified, energy-related holding company. Panda Energy (Dallas, Texas) is a privately held, non-regulated electric generation company primarily focus in the development, ownership and operation of environmentally clean, low-cost power plants.

A power purchase agreement of 200-megawatt with Nevada Power is pending regulatory approval. The agreement is for power to be delivered from Gila River Power Station during the summer months of 2003, 2004, and 2005. Nevada Power Company is a subsidiary of Sierra Pacific Resources (NYSE: SRP) (Las Vegas, Nevada), an investor-owned corporation with operating subsidiaries engaged in energy and utilities services.