New NG Power Plants Already Bankrupt, Or Running Only During Spring And Summer - In Texas
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Panda Power of Dallas spent $2.2 billion to build three power plants in Texas after the state grid manager said in 2011 and 2012 that Texas desperately needed more generation to meet growing electricity demand. But those projections turned out to be wrong. Panda ended up putting one of the plants into bankruptcy because the company couldn’t sell electricity at prices high enough to cover its debts.
A 484-megawatt gas-fired plant planned by Chicago-based power developer Halyard Energy Ventures for Wharton County near Houston is now on the list of inactive plants published by the state grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, according to ERCOT records. Another plant, the 743-megawatt FGE Texas 1 gas plant that was to be built by FTG Power of The Woodlands and planned for Mitchell County in West Texas, was canceled last year, according to ERCOT records. Neither company could be reached for comment.
Today, a combined cycle natural gas plant costs about $1,000 per kilowatt of capacity to build, or about $250 million for a relatively small 250-megawatt plant. It has to run at least 50 percent capacity to make it economical. Already, some gas-fired plants run only between March and October, mothballed during the rest of the year when wholesale prices fall.
Then there’s the cost of fuel. Generators of wind and solar farms don’t pay for wind and sun, lowering operational costs to a fraction of what it costs to run a gas plant. Consequently, many new wind and solar plants are in the pipeline in Texas. Hardly any natural gas projects are. By 2025, wind will generate about 25 percent of the state’s energy needs, up from 20 percent last year, according to S&P Global’s estimates. And solar will produce as much as 5 percent in 2025, up from 1 percent last year.
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https://climatecrocks.com/2020/08/17/wind-and-sun-killing-gas-in-texas/#more-61291
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