Delaware City Refinery Drops Expansion Plan, Looking at NGLs Port Possibility
PBF Energy, owner of the Delaware City Refinery, has dropped plans for a $1 billion project to expand low-sulfur fuel production. But it is considering a $100 million investment to support cleaner fuel production and to export natural gas liquids such as propane.
PBF, in its quarterly earnings announcement, said the $1 billion hydrotreater project to produce low-sulfur fuels would have needed extensive permits. The company said it had already largely achieved production targets with improvements at its Delaware City and Paulsboro, N.J., refineries. It wrote off the value of $28 million in studies it had done to lay the groundwork for the project.
The idea of building a terminal to export NGLs at its Delaware River property, south of Wilmington, is in the early stages. There is a growing overseas demand for natural gas liquids, produced from shale-gas formations as well as refineries.
“We have a significant amount of property,” a PBF official said. “We’ve had some discussions with the state on it. I wouldn’t say they stood up and said, ‘This is the greatest idea we’ve ever heard.’” But he added that some parties are “very interested in doing it.”
More: The News Journal
Bloom Energy Misses Salary, Workforce Benchmarks
Fuel cell producer Bloom Energy, a key part of Gov. Jack Markell’s economic development plan, fell short of hitting the workforce benchmarks it had agreed to under a $16.5 million state incentive grant.
Company filings from the end of September disclosed Bloom has 208 employees and an annual payroll of $9.55 million. The state grant called for 300 employees and a $12 million payroll. The company’s incentive payments are generated from a surcharge on Delmarva Power & Light bills that amount to about $5.84 a month for a typical residential customer.
Penalties won’t kick in until 2017 if the company continues to fall short, said Alan Levin, state economic development director. “While I’m disappointed they didn’t hit their number, I am not discouraged because I see them making steady progress,” he said.
More: The News Journal
INDIANA
Commission to Probe IPL’s Underground Network Failure
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission held a public meeting Monday to review reports examining the failure of Indianapolis Power and Light’s underground network in August.
IPL experienced a number of underground transformer explosions on Aug. 13, causing smoke to billow from street-level grates and forcing the evacuation of several downtown Indianapolis buildings. There were no injuries, but large parts of the downtown district went dark.
At a Monday hearing, the commission reviewed reports prepared by IPL and an independent consultant. IPL was investigated for similar blasts in 2010 and 2011.
More: IURC
KENTUCKY
State Reviewing Plan for 90-MW Coke-Fueled Plant
The Board on Electric Generation and Transmission Siting is reviewing a proposal by SunCoke Energy South Shore to build a 90-MW power plant that would be fueled by gases from its proposed coke plant on the Ohio Rver near South Shore, Ky.
Coke, which is used in steelmaking, is produced by heating coal to burn off the volatile compounds. SunCoke proposes to capture the gases and use them to generate power.
Electricity would be fed to the grid through a 1-mile transmission line across the Ohio River to an American Electric Power substation in New Boston, Ohio.
More: Public Service Commission
MARYLAND
Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Plan Needs to Include Conowingo
A report from the Maryland Public Policy Institute says that Maryland’s $14.4 billion plan to clean up the Chesapeake Bay to meet federal mandates ignores the effect of the single largest source of sediment flowing into the bay – Exelon’s Conowingo Dam.
The report says that most of the funds will be spent on reducing nitrogen pollution from sewage plants, septic systems and storm water outfalls, which account for only 7% of pollution. “If you decide that nitrogen is the bad guy,” and you wanted “to get rid of nitrogen in the most cost-effective way, why would you want to focus on only 7% of Maryland’s [nitrogen] source?” MPPI member James Simpson said.
The state’s plan was devised in response to a 2010 federal mandate to meet Clean Water Act standards.
More: Maryland Reporter
MICHIGAN
U.P. Generation Shortfall, Rates Draws Crowd at Energy Summit
A looming energy crisis for the Upper Peninsula attracted an unusually large audience to Michigan’s annual Energy Summit.
More than 300 people came to Northern Michigan University in Marquette to hear about potential solutions to the crisis, which was triggered when We Energies proposed shutting down its Presque Isle plant after large industrial customers switched to different suppliers. MISO ordered the plant to stay open to protect system reliability. Michigan retail customers would foot the bill — up to $15 more a month per customer.
“I want people to understand that the problem is serious and avoidable, but in order to avoid it we need the participation of an awful lot of people … and [to] always [keep] in mind the impact on the residential ratepayers as well as the business,” said Valerie Brader, a senior policy advisor to Gov. Rick Snyder.
We Energies, based in Wisconsin, has said it would be willing to construct a new power plant if the Presque Isle plant closes. Other solutions include load control and energy efficiency.
More: Upper Michigan’s Source
NEW JERSEY
BPU Offering Up to $3 Million for Energy Storage Projects
The Board of Public Utilities is offering $3 million in incentives to developers of energy storage systems associated with renewable-energy projects that provide on-site power to facilities.
The grants, up to $500,000 each, will spur power generators to develop energy storage capacity that builds up the state’s resiliency to blackouts. Such storage facilities are also seen as critical to resolving the issue of matching up consumer demand to the intermittent production from renewable-power generators.
The money comes out of the state Clean Energy Fund, which is financed by a surcharge on utility customers’ bills.
More: NJ Spotlight
NORTH CAROLINA
Piedmont Gas Granted Approval for Affiliate Agreements by State
The Utilities Commission approved agreements by Piedmont Natural Gas affiliates to sign up for a proposed natural gas pipeline that would run to the state from West Virginia. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a proposed 550-mile natural gas pipeline that would carry gas from the shale regions of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The pipeline itself still needs regulatory approval from all the states on the route, as well as from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Piedmont needed state approval because it is both a partner in the pipeline project and a proposed customer.
More: Winston-Salem Journal
OHIO
Fracking Pipeline Bursts and Catches Fire in East
A pipeline carrying condensate from shale-gas wells in the state’s east to a gas processing facility in West Virginia burst and caught fire last week, burning for several hours before being brought under control.
The 8-inch pipeline carries natural gas condensate to Dominion Transmission’s Natrium Natural Gas Processing and Fractionation Facility. Condensates are valuable liquids likened to “natural gasoline” that are produced from some oil and gas wells. The accident caused no injuries or property damage, and the state Environmental Protection Agency said there was no sign of leakage into waterways.
The number of pipeline accidents has increased as the fracking boom has taken off in Ohio. There were 13 accidents last year, up from four in 2010. There have been 11 so far this year.
More: Columbus Dispatch
PENNSYLVANIA
Future of PGW to be Addressed in Wake of Deal Collapse
The collapse of a deal to sell aging Philadelphia Gas Works to UIL Holdings has spurred the state Public Utility Commission to hold a session to address plans on what to do next with the nation’s largest municipal gas utility.
The one-day session will be on Nov. 14 at Drexel University and will focus on what to do about PGW’s high rates, crumbling infrastructure and programs for low-income customers.
The contentious $1.86 billion deal to sell PGW was engineered by Mayor Michael Nutter but scuttled by the city council last week. Nutter said the council’s killing of the deal without holding hearings or a vote was the “biggest cop-out in recent legislative history in Philadelphia.”
More: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Corbett Vows to Protect Coal Industry if Re-Elected
Gov. Tom Corbett, trailing Democratic challenger Tom Wolf, promised voters in his state’s coal region that he will protect the coal industry if re-elected.
Corbett, in a speech in Plumcreek Township, said federal government regulation is hurting the state’s economy. “We need to get Washington and the [Environmental Protection Agency] out of our way so we can do more with the industry and continue to keep and grow our coal jobs that President Obama and his supporters are trying to kill in Pennsylvania,” he said.
Corbett also criticized his Democratic challenger for supporting a 5% severance tax on natural gas production.
“We’ve grown the natural gas industry from the fifth largest in the country to the second largest,” Corbett said. “We reduced unemployment from 8.1% to 5.7%, and we produced a balanced budget on time each of the four years I’ve been in office. When we didn’t have the money to spend, we didn’t do it. That’s what [Wolf] wants to do — tax and spend.”
More: Valley News Dispatch
VIRGINIA
Co-Op Wins Against Comcast in Pole Attachment Case
The State Corporation Commission ruled in favor of Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, which was fighting attempts by cable giant Comcast to cut the rate it pays to use the co-op’s utility poles.
Comcast had sought to pay NOVEC according to the same formula used to compensate investor-owned utilities, but the SCC set a higher rate for the co-op. Comcast wanted to pay $7.16 a year for each NOVEC pole it used. A commission hearing examiner set the rate at $20.60. NOVEC has 52,000 poles.
“We asked to be fully compensated for providing space on our pole infrastructure to Comcast, and the rate determined by the hearing examiner, and affirmed by the commissioners, achieved most of what we were seeking,” said Stan Feuerberg, NOVEC president and CEO. Comcast said the higher cost would inhibit its ability to deliver broadband service in rural areas.
More: ECT.coop