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To: Frank who wrote (81940)12/17/2000 7:21:47 PM
From: Second_Titan  Respond to of 95453
 
Deregulation of electric industry really leaves an important aspect of supply and system stability unanswered.

One aspect of the billions of dollars of turbines that are on order are that they most all are NG fired with the latest in emissions control technology. This means they can generally be permitted anywhere in th USA relatively easily. The latest NG emissions technology is proven, the oil fired emissions technology is not. In addition permitting oil fired units is much more difficult.

There are many reasons not to buy and operate an oil fired unit.

Additional capital costs

wear and tear on turbines increases operating costs as much as 25%

Emissions compliance not as reliable or proven, etc.

So a pure merchant plant just looking to exploit opportunities may not be able to justify a dual fuel option.

Who is making sure that power will be available when NG is curtailed? Much of the new generation will be more than happy to exploit market opportunities for 95% of the year when gas is available. What will we do when they take their units down for maintenance when gas is not available?