Hurricane Irma Shuts Off Power in Puerto Rico, Nears Florida as Gulf Coast Refineries Return to Service

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Hurricane Irma, the most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record, added Puerto Rico to its growing list of wreckage. As Floridians continue to evacuate the most vulnerable areas along the coast, the state's power generators--including the operator of two nuclear power plants--are preparing their facilities for whatever may happen this weekend. Industrial Info is keeping track of scores of power-generation facilities still in Irma's path.

Caribbean Residents Face Life-Changing Destruction
Irma devastated the islands of Sint Maartin, Antigua and Barbuda, where it likely will take days to assess the full extent of the damage; Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, told reporters that up to 95% of property on Barbuda alone was heavily damaged. Ten fatalities have been reported in the affected areas to date.

Irma also left more than 1 million residents of Puerto Rico without power, although its worst winds stayed north of the island and the destruction was not as widespread as initially feared. Still, heavy rain on Puerto Rico is likely to continue through Saturday.

Industrial Info is tracking progress at 19 power-generation facilities in Puerto Rico and more than $226 million in active projects, including the proposed construction of three solar-power stations.

According to the National Hurricane Center, a Hurricane Warning was in effect for the northwestern, central and southeastern Bahamas; the Turks and Caicos Islands; and the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus and Villa Clara. Warnings also were in effect for the Dominican Republic, running from Cabo Engano to the northern border with Haiti; and Haiti, running from the northern border with the Dominican Republic to Le Mole St. Nicholas. A Hurricane Watch was in effect for the Cuban provinces of Guantanamo,Holguin, Las Tunas and Matanzas.

Florida Prepares for Heavy Property Damage, Power Outages
Officials in Florida continued to warn residents to make whatever preparations are needed before Saturday, when Irma is expected to make landfall in the state. A Hurricane Warning was in effect for Jupiter Inlet, southward around the Florida peninsula to Bonita Beach; the Florida Keys; Lake Okeechobee; and Florida Bay. The Jupiter Inlet and Florida Keys areas also were under a Storm Surge Watch, which means that over the next 48 hours there is a possibility of life-threatening inundation from rising waters moving inland from the coastline.

(NOTE: Article updated to reflect Hurricane Warning statuses.)

Florida Power & Light (FPL), a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Incorporated (NYSE:NEE) (Juno Beach, Florida), said it would shut down its four nuclear reactors in the path of Hurricane Irma before Saturday. The reactors are evenly divided between two plants: St. Lucie and Turkey Point.

The St. Lucie plant has two reactors with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts (MW), while the Turkey Point plant has two reactors with a total capacity of 1,600 MW. Both plants sit on Florida's eastern coast--on Hutchinson Island and Biscayne Bay, respectively. For more information, see Industrial Info's plant profiles for the St. Lucie and Turkey Point facilities.

Industrial Info is tracking progress at 139 power-generation facilities in Florida, including 14 in Broward, Collier, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, where various evacuation orders have been issued.

These four counties also host more than $1.1 billion in active power-generation projects, including two proposed power plants: NextEra's $888 million natural gas-fired, combined-cycle (NGCC) station in Fort Lauderdale and Energy3 LLC's (Annapolis, Maryland) $63 million waste-to-energy plant in Plantation. The Fort Lauderdale station is expected to generate 1,200 MW from a pair of combustion turbines and a steam turbine, while the Plantation facility would generate 13 MW from a gas turbine. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the Fort Lauderdale and Plantation projects.

More Plants Return to Service in Texas, Louisiana
U.S. Gulf Coast refiners continue to slowly recover from Hurricane Harvey. At this time, about 1.96 million barrels per day (BBL/d) have returned to production, while 3.02 million BBL/d remain offline. Capacity online is expected to continue to increase throughout September. Only five of 21 affected refineries remain completely offline. Twelve refineries are nearing normal operations, and four have initiated restart procedures.

IIR Energy has organized a summary of Hurricane Harvey's impact on the power, chemical, petroleum refining and gas processing assets in its path. Click here to download the Hurricane Harvey Impact Report.

Among the most recent developments at area refineries and chemical-processing facilities:

• OCI Beaumont LLC restarted its 700,000-metric-ton-per-year methanol unit at its plant in Nederland, Texas, but its 250,000-metric-ton-per-year ammonia unit remains shut down. See plant profile.
• Houston Refining LP, a division of LyondellBasell, returned to normal rates at its 265,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) refinery in Houston, with the exception of the 90,000-BBL/d FCCU 732. The FCCU 732, which experienced issues earlier in the week, is in the process of restarting and is expected to return to normal levels by late Sunday, September 10. See plant profile.
• LyondellBasell restarted the four polyethylene lines at its plant in La Porte, Texas. See plant profile.
• Chevron Phillips Chemical Company restarted its its 2.29 billion-pound-per-year polypropylene plant in Pasadena, Texas. Industrial Info is tracking more than $6 billion in active projects at the facility, including the proposed construction of a 3.3 billion-pound-per-year ethylene cracker and derivative unit complex. See plant profile.
• CITGO Petroleum Corporation, earlier this week, returned its 420,000-BBL/d refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to normal operational levels after being forced to reduce rates and shut down the 120,000-BBL/d Topper A (Crude). The refinery is the sixth-largest refining facility in the U.S., and the largest of the three CITGO refineries. See plant profile.
• Exxon Mobil Chemical Company began restart activities at its 375 million-pound-per-year HDPE and 2.28 billion-pound-per-year LDPE polyethylene plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas. See plant profile.

In addition, TransCanada Corporation announced it will extend the open season for the Keystone XL system to Thursday, October 26, due to the wide-ranging effects of Hurricane Harvey. The open season, which was launched on Thursday, July 27, is to solicit additional binding commitments from interested parties for transportation of crude oil on the Keystone Pipeline and for the Keystone XL Pipeline Project, which runs from Hardisty, Alberta, to markets in Cushing, Oklahoma, and the U.S. Gulf Coast.

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/.