On July 25, 2019, Tampa Electric (TECO) announced that the Big Bend Power Station Modernization Project received final approval. This approval includes converting a coal-fired electric generator unit to natural gas, and retiring a second coal-fired unit. According to EIA’s Monthly Update to Annual Electric Generator Report, the Big Bend Modernization Project will account for 84% of the 937 megawatts (MW) of natural gas-fired planned capacity additions in Florida through 2021. The project will increase net generation capacity at the Big Bend Power Station when the combined-cycle unit begins operations in 2023.
The 1.7 gigawatt (GW) Big Bend Power Station currently includes four coal-fired units (Units 1–4), constructed between 1970 and 1985, as well as a dual-fuel unit (Unit 5), constructed in 2009, which is capable of consuming natural gas or fuel oil. The dual-fuel unit is dispatched during times of peak demand, typically in the summer when demand for air conditioning is at its highest. TECO installed a 19 MW solar photovoltaic project at the site in 2017.
The Big Bend Modernization Project will convert Unit 1 into a natural gas combined-cycle unit. The new unit will consist of two new combustion turbine generators—rated at 370 MW each—and an existing steam turbine generator, bringing Unit 1 total nominal generating capacity to more than 1 GW. Before the Unit 1 conversion occurs, the project will retire Big Bend’s Unit 2 coal-fired unit and upgrade the facility to receive pipeline natural gas as feedstock for electricity generation. Unit 1 will begin simple-cycle operations in 2021, and combined-cycle operations will start in 2023, according to project plans.
Between 2008 and 2018, Florida led the United States in natural gas capacity additions in the electric power sector, adding 15.7 GW of natural-gas fired electric generation capacity. These additions have more than offset retirements of conventional coal-fired units (2.8 GW), petroleum liquids-fired units (5.1 GW), and less-efficient natural gas-fired units (3.3 GW). In addition to natural gas capacity additions in Florida, pipeline infrastructure has been growing throughout the region, according to EIA’s pipeline projects database.
In 2007, Florida adopted an environmental standard that aims to reduce power sector greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2025. The Big Bend project continues the state’s transition away from petroleum liquids and coal sources of electricity generation in favor of cleaner, more cost-competitive sources such as natural gas and solar. Once complete, TECO expects the Big Bend project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 3 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.
