In the month since Platte River Power Authority joined a regional energy market, its combustion gas turbines have been operating at a higher level and the Craig 1 unit that was supposed to have been retired instead began burning coal again.
The combustion turbines have been operating at a “much higher capacity factor” and prices have been volatile, Melie Vincent, PRPA’s chief power supply officer, told the board of directors on April 30.
“A lot of this is just SPP operators trying to figure out the western side,” Vincent said, referring to the Southwest Power Pool regional transmission organization’s expansion into the western United States with nine utilities in Colorado, Arizona, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming…