Part D - Louisiana Non Utility Generator (NUG) Data

Data in this report on NUG generator type, capacity, and generation came from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). Data on NUG sales to and prices from electric utilities came from previous editions of this report, the purchasing electric utilities, and some of the selling NUGs. While, under existing time constraints, every effort was made to assure data quality, there are some apparent omissions and anomalies in these data. The effects of such omissions and anomalies on the validity of overall data are believed to be inconsequential. Every effort will be made to identify and correct any errors and omissions which may exist here by the next edition of this report.

Generator Capacity, Type, and Estimated Generation by Louisiana NUGs

Tables III-A and III-B present information on NUG generator type, capacity, and fuel as well as estimated generation. Table III-A groups the data by basic prime mover type; Table III-B groups the data by industry type. Generation estimates for individual NUGs are not given because of confidentiality requirements.

These data, received from EEI, were originally reported to EEI by Louisiana electric utilities. As such, the data represent the assessment and categorization of NUG generating capability by those electric utilities as well as electric utility estimates of generation. It is likely that some Louisiana NUGs who are not QFs do not appear in these tables. In addition, the generation estimates by the utilities for at least some of the NUGs represent simple percentage factors applied across industry groups. On the whole, however, these are the best available data and are valid for the purposes of this report. Enhancement of these data should be completed before the next edition of this report.

According to electric utility industry estimates for 1994, NUGs operating in Louisiana operated 66 generating units having a total capacity of 2798.85 MW or 24,518 million KWH per year. Their estimated generation of electricity was 17,805 million KWH. These figures represent a use factor of 72.6% for Louisiana NUGs.

Table III-A presents a grouping of Louisiana NUG data by prime mover type. Only one NUG in the state, Murray Hydro (Independent Power Producer or IPP), operates using non-thermal energy. This NUG uses low head hydropower, mechanical energy in the form of a 10 to 20 foot elevation difference between the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers, to drive tis electric generators.

The data for the other 65 NUG generating units indicate a clear preference for combustion turbine technology. For purposes of comparison here, both those units in the EEI data classified as combined cycle and those classified as gas turbine are combined into a single category, combustion turbines. This is done because none of the reported NUG combustion turbines are of the simple cycle type (exhausting to the atmosphere) as the category "gas turbine"might indicate. Combustion turbines are the prime mover for 1680.7 MW or 64.7% of the NUG thermally driven generator capacity of 2606.85 MW in Louisiana. Similarly, combustion turbines produce an estimated 11,111.4 million KWH or 65.9% of the estimated 16,862.1 million KWH of electricity generated by thermally driven NUG units in the state. Of the NUG steam turbine driven generators, the majority are driven by fuels not amenable for use in combustion turbines (e.g. paper manufacturing byproducts, petroleum coke, bagasse, and rice husks). Within the ranks of the 17 boilers fueled by natural gas, at least 10 of these can be identified as having been built before 1945.

Table III-B presents a grouping of Louisiana NUG data by industry group. Only two Louisiana NUGs are not cogenerators affiliated with an industrial manufacturing activity. These are Murray Hydro, an independent power producer (IPP) using hydropower, and Agrielectric, a small power producer (SPP) burning agricultural waste (rice husks). Data for both of these plants can be given since both plants sell their entire electric output to utilities and are not subject to the confidentiality requirements applicable to industrial cogenerators.

According to EEI estimates, Murray Hydro with a generating capacity of 192 MW or 1,682 million KWH per year generated 943.8 million KWH of electricity during 1994 for a capacity use of 56.1%. This facility was limited to this level of operation by the fact that it is a "run of the river" type hydro facility. It can only operate successfully during those periods of time when the water levels of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River differ by a sufficient amount.

Similarly, according to EEI estimates, Agrielectric with a generating capacity of 12.5 MW or 109.5 million KWH per year generated 64.64 million KWH of electricity during 1994. This represents a capacity use of 59%. Although this facility runs throughout the year, its dependence on agricultural waste limits production to available agricultural waste. It might also be added that actual reported sales figures for this facility during 1994 were 72.86 million KWH, some 12.7% more than the EEI estimates. Based on actual sales of electricity, the Agrielectric facility had a 66.5% use rate in 1994.

Of the cogenerating industrial NUGs in Louisiana, those operating as part of chemical manufacture had both the majority of generating capacity and electric generation. NUG generating capacity among chemical manufacturers in 1994 was estimated by EEI to be 1846.7 MW or 16,177 million KWH per year. Collectively, these NUGs generated an estimated 12,200.5 million KWH of electricity for a 75.4% use factor. These figures represented almost 66% of Louisiana NUG capacity and 68.5% of Louisiana NUG generation during 1994.

Louisiana NUGs operating in 1994 as part of paper and paper products manufacture placed a distant second in terms of both capacity and generation. These cogenerating industrial NUGs had a 1994 capacity of 386.5 MW or 3,385.7 million KWH per year and generated 2,502.7 million KWH of electricity during that year. This represents a 73.9% use factor. Figures for the paper / paper products NUGs represented 13.8% of NUG capacity and 14% of NUG generation in Louisiana during 1994.

The estimated generating capacity of Louisiana NUGs engaging in refining or petroleum products manufacture was 344.45 MW or 3,017.4 million KWH per year in 1994. These NUGs generated an estimated 1,997 million KWH of electricity in that year for a capacity use of 66.2%. Compared to Louisiana NUG totals for 1994, this grouping represented 12.3% of generating capacity and 11.2% of generation.

The last NUG industry group is engaged in sugar cane milling or sugar refining. In 1994, this NUG industry group had an estimated generating capacity of 16.7 MW or 146.3 million KWH per year. Their estimated generation during that year was 97.2 million KWH representing a 66.4% use factor. Sugar industry NUGs had only 0.6% of statewide NUG generating capacity and 5.4% of statewide generation during 1994.

Sales of Electricity by Louisiana NUGs to Louisiana Electric Utilities

Table IV, Figures IV-A through IV-D, and Tables V through IX with associated Tables in the body of this report as well as all tables in Appendix B present data on purchases of NUG power by Louisiana electric utilities. As shown in Table IV, Louisiana NUGs sold a total of 274.45 million KWH of electricity to Louisiana utilities in 1994, the last year in which data are complete. These utilities paid a total of $4,842,949 for this power for an average unit cost of 1.76 cents per KWH.

Yearly average unit prices paid by each Louisiana electric utility are shown graphically in Figure IV-A. These prices are strong indicators of the natural gas prices paid by the various utilities for natural gas over the decade which the data span. All utilities except SWEPCO are grouped together rather closely. SWEPCO, however, is universally higher than any other utility. In 1993, its price paid to NUGs was almost triple the value for the utility having the lowest price paid cost in the state, NOPSI. The reason for these high prices was that SWEPCO was locked into a high (more than $8 per mcf) priced natural gas supply contract with one of its major suppliers. During that year, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), which also regulates SWEPCO, investigated this situation. As a result, SWEPCO was able to renegotiate prices on this contract. Renegotiations resulted in the fall of price paid NUGs from 4.81 to 2.59 cents per KWH. The cost of SWEPCO electricity to its customers fell as well.

Figures IV-B through IV-D present graphic data on yearly totals of electricity purchases from NUGs by Louisiana electric utilities. Sums for all Louisiana NUGs are presented as bars; the total activity for all NUGs, both Louisiana and Texas, is presented as a line graph. As can be seen in Figures IV-B and IV-C, the quantity and total cost of electricity purchased from Texas NUGs is significant. Data in Figure IV-D, however, indicates that the yearly average unit prices paid Louisiana NUGs vs. combined Texas and Louisiana NUGs are almost equal.

Starting with Table V through Table IX and Figure IX, yearly summary data are presented by purchasing utility for each NUG selling electricity. Table V provides data on purchases by CLECO from one NUG supplier.

NUG purchase activity by GSU is divided into two sets of tables and figures, one set (Table VI-L and Figure VI-L) for Louisiana NUGs and one set (Table VI-T and Figure VI-T) for Texas NUGs. GSU purchases electricity form nine Louisiana NUG suppliers. The data presented in Table VI-L provide sums for all nine suppliers and all suppliers except Agrielectric. Agrielectric is a small power producer in Lake Charles burning agricultural waste (rice husks). Because of a special agreement with GSU approved by the Louisiana Public Service Commission, this SPP receives special rates which are roughly 200% of GSU's avoided cost. The Agrielectric data are omitted from Figure VI-L (average yearly unit prices for each supplier) in order to focus on standard average yearly unit prices paid industrial cogenerating QF NUGs. GSU purchases electric power from eight industrial cogenerating QF NUGs in Texas. These data are presented and summarized in Table VI-T. The average yearly unit prices for each of these NUGs are shown graphically in Figure VI-T. A visual examination of both GSU figures indicates similarities in GSU's prices paid NUGs among QFs and between states.

Table VII presents yearly data on power purchased from three industrial cogenerating QF NUGs by LPL. Figure VII shows graphically LPL's yearly average unit price paid each of these suppliers. With the exception of the first year's (1985) data, these data, cluster by year among the suppliers and cluster in a band between 1.40 and 2.10 cents per KWH over the twelve years of data.

NOPSI yearly power purchase activity with one industrial cogenerating QF NUG is presented in Table VIII. Similarly, the yearly average unit price paid for such power from that supplier is shown graphically in Figure VIII. These average unit prices lie within the price range paid by all other Louisiana electric utilities except SWEPCO.

Data on SWEPCO power purchasing activities with its two Texas industrial cogenerating QF NUGs is shown in Table IX. Yearly average unit prices paid by this utility to its NUG suppliers are shown graphically in Figure IX. As mentioned above, SWEPCO prices paid for power from these suppliers, a proxy for SWEPCO's weighted average cost of gas, are substantially higher than those of any other Louisiana electric utility in every year except 1994. The 1994 unit prices, while still higher than those of every other Louisiana utility, are percentage wise much closer.

Disaggregate monthly data for each NUG supplying a Louisiana electric utility form 1985 to the present are shown in tables located in Appendix B. These 28 tables cover all individual NUGs selling to Louisiana and include summary tables for each electric utility having more than one NUG supplier. Data for the Entergy utilities (GSU, LPL, and NOPSI) cover the period from January 1985 through July 1996. Data for CLECO and SWEPCO cover the period from January 1985 through December 1994.

Return to Technology Assessment Division Reports Menu

Go to Technology Assessment Division Main Menu

Comments or questions to: techasmt@dnr.state.la.us

These web pages were designed under contract to the Department of Natural Resources and are maintained by employees of the Department of Natural Resources.

This page updated June 18, 2008