PENSACOLA — Gulf Power’s plans to build a new plant in northern Escambia County are not dead, but they are certainly on hold.
Gulf Power began acquiring land in the McDavid area, about 35 miles north of Pensacola, in 2009 for a new power generating plant. However, the Florida Public Service Commission voted last year to prevent Gulf Power from raising its base rate to fund additional land purchases.
“We’re just still evaluating what would be best for our customers,” said Natalie Smith, communications specialist for Gulf Power. “There’s almost 1,000 acres remaining that’s been identified for acquisition. We’re not acquiring any of the property at this time. Right now we are still in full evaluation mode.
“We have to plan for future generation needs, and these types of things take a long time,” Smith added. “We have to work years ahead of time to make sure when we flip on a switch in 2030 the lights will still come on. It took us a long time to select the land that we did in north Escambia, and it’s going to continue to take us a very long time to evaluate what will be the best choice for our customers.”
The site would allow Gulf Power to build virtually any type of power plant, such as clean coal, natural gas, solar and even nuclear, which has been strongly rumored. During the Public Service Commission’s meeting last July, the project was referred to as Gulf Power’s nuclear plant.
The previous February, Gulf Power requested a $101.5 million annual increase to the base rate portion of its bills. The Public Service Commission approved a $64.1 million hike, but denied the utility’s request to charge customers to recoup the cost of land purchased in Escambia for a power plant.
Gulf Power appealed that decision and asked for a $22.7 million increase related to the land purchase in July, but was denied again.
Jeff Rogers, communications manager for Gulf Power, said the Public Service Commission in the past had always allowed power companies to raise their base rates to fund land purchases for future projects.
“It was a shock to us that it wasn’t considered,” Rogers said.
By 2011, Gulf Power already had purchased 2,738 acres in the McDavid area for the plant before the Public Service Commission denied its request for a rate hike. No more land has been acquired since the commission’s vote, Rogers said.
In 2011, Gulf Power estimated it would need a new power plant to meet future generation needs by 2018. A more recent study determined the utility’s existing plants could meet Northwest Florida’s power needs through 2022, Smith said.
Gulf Power has three power plants in the region. The James F. Crist Generating Plant in Pensacola produces a generating capacity of 970 megawatts. The Lancing Smith Generating Plant in Panama City can produce 890 megawatts and the Herbert Scholz Generating Plant in Sneads can produces 80 megawatts.
Gulf Power also owns portions of power plants outside its service area, including facilities in Mississippi and Georgia.
Contact Daily News Business Editor Dusty Ricketts at 850-315-4448 or dricketts@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DustyRnwfdn.