Louisville Gasoline and Electrical Co. and Kentucky Utilities Co. (LG&E and KU) will exchange two growing old coal era items at Mill Creek Producing Station in Kentucky—a mixed 600 MW—with a 645-MW GE Vernova hydrogen-ready 7HA.03 gasoline turbine.
GE Vernova introduced the order for the heavy-duty gasoline turbine—essentially the most superior of its HA-class fashions—from the 2 regulated PPL Corp. subsidiaries on April 11. The brand new pure gasoline mixed cycle plant, Mill Creek Unit 5, might be constructed on the Louisville web site by TIC (The Industrial Firm), a subsidiary of engineering and building big Kiewit.
A Diversification Pushed by Environmental Guidelines
In accordance with LG&E and KU, the brand new unit is a part of a least-cost plan to modernize their 8-GW fleet. The utilities at present function 11 coal items with a complete internet summer season capability of 4,867 MW, a 662-MW pure gasoline mixed cycle unit, and 17 load-following easy cycle combustion turbine (SCCT) peaking items with a mixed capability of two GW.
In 2022, the utilities, nevertheless, moved to retire 4 of their 11 coal items: the 300-MW Mill Creek 1 in 2024 and the 300-MW Mill Creek 2 in 2024; the 412-MW Brown 3 in 2028, and the 485-MW Ghent 2 in 2028.
The utilities proposed to retire Brown 3 owing to $26 million in main upkeep the unit would wish in 2027. In the meantime, they stated Mill Creek 1, Mill Creek 2, and Ghent 2 aren’t at present geared up with SCR, and it was economical to retire Mill Creek 2 and Ghent 2 quite than outfitting them with selective catalytic discount (SCR) controls as required by the Environmental Safety Company’s (EPA’s) Good Neighbor Plan. The utilities additionally moved to retire Mill Creek 1 in 2024, on condition that the unit would require a cooling tower underneath the EPA’s Effluent Limitations Tips and Requirements (ELGs) and require the addition of an SCR as a result of Good Neighbor Plan. The utilities, as well as, moved to retire three of their 17 gasoline SCCT items, together with three small pure gas-fired items—Haefling 1 and a pair of, and Paddy’s Run 12—a mixed capability of 47 MW.
To interchange that capability, LG&E and KU in January 2023 filed a joint software asking the Kentucky Public Service Fee (KPSC) to approve certificates of public comfort and necessity (CPCN) to construct two pure gasoline mixed cycle items (Mill Creek 5 and Brown 12). It additionally moved to construct a photo voltaic era facility, purchase one other one, and assemble a battery storage facility.
In March 2023, nevertheless, Kentucky enacted a regulation that requires jurisdictional utilities to get approval from the KPSC earlier than retiring an electrical producing unit. In an order issued on November 2023, the KPSC allowed LG&E and KU to retire Mill Creek 1 and a pair of, nevertheless it conditioned Mill Creek 2’s retirement on the operation begin of Mill Creek 5 by 2027. It additionally accredited the utilities’ request to retire the three SCCTs.
Nevertheless, the fee denied the utilities’ request to retire Ghent 2 and Brown 3, citing the necessity for added readability surrounding the EPA’s environmental guidelines. It additionally denied a CPCN for Brown 12, discovering no have to assemble the second mixed cycle plant, given its denial of the Ghent 2 and Brown 3 retirements. The fee finally acknowledged that it expects the standing of the three producing items to “come up once more within the close to future when LG&E/KU have a greater thought of what the [EPA] Greenhouse Gasoline guidelines will appear to be and when they are going to be carried out.” (The EPA issued its remaining Carbon Air pollution Requirements on April 25.)
The KPSC additionally accredited LG&E and KU plans to construct a 120-MW photo voltaic array in Mercer County and purchase one other photo voltaic pV array in Marion County, and a 125-MW battery storage unit.
A Large Change for a Fleet Nonetheless Dominated by Coal Era
Regardless of the KPSC’s denials, building of Mill Creek 5 is predicted to immediate a dramatic shift within the LG&E and KU energy profile. “Right now, our era vitality combine is: 84% coal, 15% pure gasoline and 1% renewable vitality,” the businesses famous in November. “As soon as our deliberate unit retirements happen and our alternative era is in service, our era vitality combine will change to: 62% coal, 29% pure gasoline and 9% renewable vitality.”
GE Vernova in April famous the brand new gasoline plant will function superior expertise. Solely two 7HA.03 gasoline generators—the most important 60-Hz heavy-duty gasoline turbine on the planet and essentially the most environment friendly in GE’s fleet—are at present operational at Florida Energy & Gentle’s (FPL’s) newly inaugurated 1,260-MW Dania Seashore Clear Power Middle (DBEC) in Broward County.
GE Vernova instructed POWER it has up to now bagged 23 complete orders globally for the 7HA.03. Whereas the 2 items have been working at Dania Seashore since 2022, one other unit (KOSPO Shinsejong in South Korea) is slated to realize business operation later this yr.
GE Vernova famous that when constructed, Mill Creek 5 might be fueled initially by pure gasoline, however it should have “the flexibility to make the most of as much as 50% hydrogen (by quantity) as hydrogen turns into extra out there sooner or later.”
For LG&E and KU, the precedence might be to switch its Mill Creek workhorses with energy expertise that may provide extra certainty. “We’re proud to serve the communities during which our staff reside and work on the lowest cheap value, and the addition of a brand new NGCC at our Mill Creek Producing Station—which has supplied ‘around the clock’ vitality to our clients for many years—is a vital a part of how we’re persevering with to plan for Kentucky’s vitality future in a accountable, inexpensive and dependable manner,” famous Lonnie Bellar, senior vp, Engineering and Development.
GE Vernova recommended the efficiency of the brand new 7HA.03 gasoline turbine may present LG&E and KU with a lot wanted flexibility. The gasoline turbine consists of “a extremely versatile ramp price of 75MW/min as validated at GE Vernova’s Take a look at Stand 7 in Greenville, South Carolina,” the corporate stated.
As a part of the order introduced in April, GE Vernova may even present an STF-D650 steam turbine together with a W86 generator, a Vogt Warmth Restoration Steam Generator (HRSG), and its built-in Mark* VIe management system for gasoline turbine efficiency administration. GE Vernova stated it wil additionally present “providers to assist enhance operational effectivity, anticipated to generate key financial savings in upkeep prices as a consequence of much less unplanned upkeep for the combustion generators.” As well as, knowledge collected from sensors all through the power might be monitored and analyzed 24/7 at GE Vernova’s Monitoring & Diagnostics (M&D) Middle in Atlanta, it stated.
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
