Fossil-Fuel Power Plants Push Back Maintenance

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Major U.S. and Canadian power plant owners, such as Xcel Energy Incorporated (NASDAQ:XEL) (Minneapolis, Minnesota) and Idacorp Incorporated (NYSE:IDA) (Boise, Idaho), have been carefully determining which maintenance-related projects they can afford to delay as they practice measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Industrial Info is tracking nearly 100 maintenance-related projects in the U.S. and Canada that have faced delays or otherwise have been affected by COVID-19 precautions, with natural gas-fired and coal-fired units accounting for about 90% of the count.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing U.S. and Canadian power maintenance project delays, by state or province.

Natural gas-fired units account for more delayed maintenance projects than any other fuel source, including short-term delays such as Xcel's 190-megawatt (MW) Unit 4 at the Plant X Power Station in Earth, Texas. The 30-day outage had been set to begin in March, but is now slated for October. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Combined heat and power (CHP) plants that use gas-fired units also are facing delays, such as Westlake Chemical Corporation's (NYSE:WLK) (Houston, Texas) RS Cogen Plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which had been preparing for an outage on Unit 5. The 182-MW unit was expected to begin its five-week turnaround in March, but it is now scheduled to begin in October. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Other natural gas-fired units are facing much longer delays. Idacorp is postponing an outage on Unit 1 at the Bennett Mountain Power Station in Mountain Home, Idaho, by a full year to April 2021. Idacorp executives say the company "has seen only a relatively small impact" from COVID-19, but Chief Executive Officer Darrel Anderson said in a recent earnings-related conference call that the company remains "somewhat uncertain" how it ultimately will be affected: "We have yet to see a significant decrease in our overall loads during the stay-at-home orders, but we acknowledge it may soften if the crisis is prolonged." For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Some Coal Units Face Year-Long Setbacks
Canada has vowed to end its use of coal-fired power in the coming years, but Capital Power Corporation's (Edmonton, Alberta) Genesee Generating Station in Warburg, Alberta, continues to burn the fossil fuel in a mix with natural gas for its three units. Capital Power has delayed by a full year turnarounds on units 2 and 3, to April 2021 and September 2021, respectively. The units generate 410 and 495 MW, respectively. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on Unit 2 and Unit 3.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is driving reduced demand for electricity, including here in Alberta, which has put downward pressure on electricity prices for the balance of 2020," said Brian Vaasjo, the chief executive officer of Capital Power, in a recent press release.

U.S. coal-fired units to face a full year of maintenance delays include Basin Electric Power Cooperative's (Bismarck, North Dakota) Unit 1 at the Antelope Valley Power Station in Beulah, North Dakota, and CLECO Power LLC's (Pineville, Louisiana) Unit 2 at the Brame Energy Center in Lena, Louisiana, both of which have been pushed back to second-quarter 2021. The units generate 435 and 523 MW, respectively. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the Antelope Valley and Brame Energy projects.

In addition, Colorado Springs Utilities' 207-MW Unit 1 at the Ray D. Nixon Power Station in Fountain, Colorado, was pushed back from April 2020 to April 2021. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

On the nuclear front, DTE Energy Company (NYSE:DTE) (Detroit, Michigan) managed to avoid a full delay on its refueling outage for Unit 2 at the Fermi Nuclear Power Station in Newport, Michigan, which began in March. But DTE prolonged completion of the outage, which was expected in mid-May, to mid-June at the earliest after some workers tested positive, according to Michigan-based newspaper The Blade. DTE told reporters it is conducting contact tracing for all employees who tested positive and will notify others who may have been potentially exposed, according to the paper. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

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.