Tag Archives: Xcel Energy

Southern Company sells off gas assets second time this year 2018-11-07

For the second time this year, Southern Company sells off gas-fired assets.
Could it be to service debt for those way-late and over-budget Plant Vogtle nukes?

Southern Company, PR, 7 November 2018,

Southern Power Reaches Agreement to Sell the Mankato Energy Center,


Southern Power, a leading U.S. wholesale energy provider and
subsidiary of Southern Company, today announced that it has entered
an agreement to sell the Mankato Energy Center to Xcel Energy for
$650 million.

Mankato, a natural gas combined-cycle generation facility, will have
a maximum capacity of approximately 760 megawatts upon completion of
an ongoing expansion project. The completion of the sale, subject to
regulatory approval and other closing conditions, is expected to be
mid-2019.

“The Mankato Energy Center is a valuable part of the local community
and the regional energy infrastructure,” said Southern Power
President and CEO Mark Lantrip. “This transaction is a great
opportunity to deliver value for the benefit of Southern Company
shareholders.”

Proceeds from this transaction will be used to strengthen the
balance sheet of Southern Company and position Southern Power to
continue providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable wholesale
energy to its customers across the U.S, including the expansion of
one of the nation’s largest carbon-free renewable energy portfolios.

What does “strengthen the balance sheet” mean? Continue reading →

Monticello nuke down 5 1/2 months and $267 million over budget

83% cost overrun on a 12% power upgrade, but no worries!

Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant
The nuke operator will pass that through to the customers.
Duke had the good sense to shut down

Crystal River.
Maybe we should stop the new nukes at Plant Vogtle,
which have already run up more than twice the cost overruns of Monticello,
before they

cost us even more for power we could get much faster
and on-budget

through solar or wind energy.

Katherine Tweed wrote for IEEE Spectrum 16 July 2013,

Minnesota Nuclear Plant Upgrade Is $267 Million Over Budget,



After being shut down for four months, Minnesota’s Monticello
nuclear power plant will restart this week with an additional 71
megawatts of capacity, a 12 percent power uprate. The increased
costs, however, will far outstrip the additional percentage of power
production.

The project, which included maintenance, upgrades and the uprate,
was budgeted at $320 million. But Monticello has cost overruns of
about 83 percent, or $267 million, according to the

Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The plant’s owner, Xcel Energy, has not released Continue reading →