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Agreement signed for cogeneration plant at fertilizer facility Homer Electric, Unocal Agricultural Products, reach agreement to solicit bids for project construction, seek regulatory approvals for work expected to begin in late summer PNA Staff
Construction could begin as early as August on a power cogeneration facility, planned by Homer Electric Association and the Unocal Agricultural Products Plant.
Roxanne Sinz, Unocal public affairs consultant, said the companies signed an agreement March 5 to proceed with plans to develop a cogeneration plant at Unocal’s Nikiski facility. A feasibility study began last May.
An under-utilized 40 megawatt gas turbine generator at the Soldotna generation plant, owned by Homer Electric and Alaska Generation and Transmission, supplies the Railbelt with electricity on an as-needed basis. It will be moved to Unocal’s Nikiski plant where generators currently produce almost all electricity needed at the facility. Less efficient generators will be shut down A waste-heat boiler will be added, and an electrical yard and transmission line to connect the new cogeneration plant with Homer Electric’s electrical transmission system.
Homer Electric will operate and maintain the new plant and Unocal will shut down several older, less efficient generators, Sinz said. Unocal purchases of electricity will be substantial For the first time, Unocal will purchase substantial volumes of electricity from Homer Electric for the plant. Chugach Electric will connect the relocated plant to the Railbelt electric grid.
“The excess electricity generated will flow into the electric grid to improve service reliability and stabilize future electric rates on the entire Railbelt,” Norman Story, general manager for Homer Electric, said in a March 23 statement.
The turbine will be powered by natural gas, producing electricity and heat. “This is primarily an energy efficiency and gas conservation project,” said Mike Nugent, Unocal’s Nikiski plant manager. He said the project will conserve gas resources for future use and result in a substantial reduction in emissions.
The heat from Unocal’s existing generators goes into the atmosphere, Sinz said, but the cogeneration plant will use the heat to produce some of the steam Unocal needs to manufacture its fertilizer product, decreasing the amount of natural gas required to generate steam and electricity. Sinz said this is not the first time a utility and a non-utility have built a cogeneration project in Alaska, but it will be the largest such project in the state.
Agreements to construct the project are subject to approval by the Alaska Public Utilities Commission, the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Conservation.
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