News Update
Orlando Utilities Commission votes to phase out coal by 2025
BLANCHE HARDY
PG
The Board of Commissioners of the Orlando Utility Commission (OUC) recently approved the retirement of Stanton Energy Center’s (SEC) Station Unit 1 by 2025. Unit 1 went into operation in 1987 at the SEC in east Orange County. Originally, SEC Unit 1 was considered for conversion to natural gas rather than closure. The commission also approved the conversion of SEC’s Unit 2 to natural gas by no later than 2027.
“Today’s official adoption by our Board of Commissioners is further proof of our commitment to meet our goal of Net Zero CO2 emissions by 2050 with interim targets of 50% by 2030 and 75% in 2040,” OUC General Manager & CEO Clint Bullock said. “The retirement of Unit 1 also is a significant milestone toward fully eliminating coal-fired generation no later than 2027. As we continue our transition to clean energy, operational flexibility is key to maintaining the reliability, resiliency and affordability our customers expect.”
OUC announced their Strategic Plan, including the goal to reach Net-Zero Carbon Emissions in 2020. The path to achieving net zero CO2 emissions is outlined in the utility’s Electric Integrated Resource Plan (EIRP).
The 12-member OUC Advisory Council, an independent group representing Orange County, the City of Orlando and the City of St. Cloud, considered the results of a rigorous public outreach program to rank the four key attributes of the EIRP: affordability, reliability, resiliency and sustainability. The Advisory Council also determined how the EIRP’s key attributes should be considered when scoring potential energy portfolios. OUC was tasked with striving to maintain competitive rates for customers while achieving the strategic goals.
The EIRP plan calls for significantly reducing coal-fired generation and subsequently eliminating it, using coal-to-natural gas conversion as a technology bridge. Both SEC Station Units were slated to be retired no later than 2040 at that time.
To reach the plan’s goals, OUC has accelerated solar and energy storage programs as primary strategies. Energy storage technologies are under development to provide supply reliability by overcoming the challenges of cloud cover and partly sunny days. OUC also is continuing to monitor cost and performance developments for new and existing clean technologies, such as hydrogen and small modular reactors.
The advisory council recommended leveraging future clean technologies to ensure diversity for reliability. The recommendation provides a roadmap to diversify the utility’s generation by incorporating technologies, such as wind-by-wire generation, to reduce dependency on solar and storage.
OUC plans to invest in renewables including the installation of 270.5 megawatts of solar energy by 2025. The utility intends to lead the state in solar watts per customer in the target year. Additional measures include a continued commitment to increase energy efficiency programs as part of annual kWh sales, the investment of $45 million in innovative transportation electrification programs to reduce CO2 by 450,000 tons and reach 100,000 EVs on central Florida roadways by 2030, and investment of $90 million in energy storage including hydrogen and large-scale battery storage to secure solar stability.
The retirement of SEC Unit 1 became possible with OUC’s purchase of the Osceola Generating Station (OSG) in the fall of 2021. The 510-megawatt (MW) simple-cycle OSG natural gas-fired power plant is in Harmony in Osceola County. The nearly $100 million deal to purchase and upgrade the inactive plant from Texas-based private ownership group Geneva did not change OUC’s commitment to reach net zero CO2 emissions as outlined in the EIRP.
OUC will continue to aggressively increases its power generation using solar energy. The OSG will allow the utility to mitigate solar production fluctuations to maintain system-wide electric reliability. Currently, the facility is undergoing renovations and testing and will be fully operational by no later than 2025.,
The utility notes acquisition of the Osceola Generating Station provides OUC with an extra layer of resiliency because it is equipped with emergency backup fuel, a critical resource to have on hand in case of fuel supply disruptions and is more cost effective for OUC’s customers than converting and operating Stanton Unit 1.
“As we move forward with our clean energy transition, ensuring operational flexibility is essential to maintaining reliability, resiliency, and affordability for our customers,” Bullock said. “We are also committed to continued investments in solar and energy storage.”