FERC on Tuesday approved MISO’s proposed system support resource (SSR) agreement for Cleco Power’s Teche 3 generating plant in Baldwin, La., effective April 1 (ER17-1227, ER17-1228).
MISO designated the 338-MW natural gas-fired plant as an SSR after Cleco notified the RTO it planned to retire the plant. The RTO said the plant will be needed to prevent severe thermal violations on its transmission system that are not addressed by available mitigation measures until the Terrebonne–Bayou Vista 230-kV line can be put into service in 2018.
The RTO said no feasible alternatives to SSR designation were identified in stakeholder meetings.
The commission rejected a protest by Entergy, which said the SSR agreement — which includes hourly compensation for the plant’s production and operating reserve costs — should include a true-up mechanism for the recovery of fixed costs to prevent Cleco from being overpaid. The commission said that issue should be addressed in a separate docket opened by Cleco for obtaining additional compensation to ensure it recovers its full cost of service (ER17-1368).
Teche 3 was built in 1971. Unit 1, completed in 1954, retired last September. Unit 2, completed in 1956, retired in 2011, when Cleco completed Teche 4, a 35-MW gas-fired black start generating unit.
— Rich Heidorn Jr.
