JEA cleared a hurdle for building a new natural gas-fired plant on the Northside of Jacksonville when the state Public Service Commission unanimously voted that JEA justified the need for the plant because it will improve service reliability and fuel efficiency "at a reasonable cost."
JEA intends to build the new plant, which carries an estimated $1.57 billion price tag, on the former St. Johns River Power Park site off New Berlin Road just north of Heckscher Drive. The new plant would largely replace electricity generated by the aging and inefficient Northside Generating Station Unit 3 that also uses natural gas.
“This approval is a significant step forward in our commitment to providing Jacksonville residents with reliable, sustainable power
for generations to come,” JEA Interim Managing Director and CEO Jody Brookssaid.
After the JEA board voted last August to move forward with plans for building the new 675-megawatt facility, the utility paid a nonrefundable deposit with GE Vernova to put JEA in line for the company's production of the high-demand turbines used in natural gas plants.
City Council members on a special investigatory committee examining JEA mattersquestioned the utilityplacing a deposit before getting a green light from the Public Service Commission. JEA officials told the committee they had been in pre-hearing talks with the state agency and were confident JEA would get approval.
During a Public Service Commission hearing on Aug. 18 that lasted about seven minutes and had no one from the public speak in opposition, the commission agreed there is a need for the new plant that JEA expects will start generating electricity in 2031.
The planned plant will have a combined-cycle generation set-up that uses both steam and gas turbines. The new plant will use 37% less natural gas per megawatt hour of electricity compared to the Northside Generating Station Unit 3, according to information presented to the Public Service Commission.
JEA says the greater efficiency will reduce fuel costs and carbon dioxide emissions on a per megawatt basis.
The Aug. 18 hearing was preceded by several meetings between JEA and the commission's staff along with hundreds of pages of testimony and documents submitted by the utility and firms that analyzed the proposed combined-cycle plant.
JEA said in those documents it expected to keep using Northside Generating Stations Unit 3, which dates back to 1977, on a limited basis after the new plant opens in 2031. the Public Service Commission agreed with JEA that Northside 3 would be able to operate at no more than 8% capacity by burning fuel oil during times of high demand for electricity, system emergencies and unexpected equipment outages.
The new plant will have the ability to use natural gas and "ultra-low sulfur diesel" for generating electricity, according to the stipulations approved by the commission. Natural gas would be the primary fuel and diesel would be a back-up fuel.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Florida PSC greenlights JEA plan for new natural gas plant
