Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E) has secured approval from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) for its acquisitions of the 360MW AES Shady Point plant and the 146MW Oklahoma Cogeneration facility in Oklahoma.
Image: OCC approves OG&E acquisition of AES Shady Point plant and Oklahoma Cogeneration facility. Photo: courtesy of Karsten W. Rohrbach/Freeimages.com.
The OG&E Energy subsidiary entered into two separate deals last December to acquire the Shady Point plant from AES Corporation and the Oklahoma Cogeneration facility from Oklahoma Cogeneration.
The company, which filed a preapproval request to the OCC in December 2018 for the acquisitions, agreed to pay a combined price of $53m for the two power plants. The two facilities have been serving OG&E’s customers through existing federally-mandated power purchase contracts which are set to expire this year.
The Shady Point facility, which is located near Poteau, is a coal and natural gas-fired plant. The power plant uses circulating fluidized bed boilers that help in cutting down emissions.
The Oklahoma Cogeneration facility happens to be the first natural gas-fired combined-cycle cogeneration plant to be built in Oklahoma. The power plant achieved its first commercial operation in 1989.
OG&E expects the acquisitions to help in further reduction in its power plant air emissions.
OG&E spokesman Brian Alford said: “Our customers will save tens of millions of dollars each year by eliminating costly, federally mandated agreements. The Shady Point acquisition will help maintain grid stability as growth continues in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. It also ensures many jobs will be preserved in an economically challenged region.
“The Oklahoma Cogen acquisition will help ensure the facility’s natural-gas-fired capacity will continue to support reliability and resiliency in the ever-growing Oklahoma City-metro area.”
Alford claimed that the company’s power plant air emissions are considerably lesser than 2005 levels, with sulfur dioxide emissions coming down by almost 90%, nitrogen oxide levels falling down by around 75% and carbon dioxide levels dropped by around 40%. Furthermore, the utility expects to continue bringing down CO2 emissions to 50% below 2005 levels by the year 2030.
In April 2018, the company announced the completion of construction of its new 462MW Mustang Energy Center in Oklahoma. The power plant, which is equipped with seven, natural gas-fired units replaced the 1950s-era power generating units at the defunct Mustang Power Plant.