Young
Memphis, Tenn., LG & W is taking a fresh look at its future power-supply needs.
“All options are on the table,” said MLGW President/CEO J.T. Young, who spoke to media Feb. 1 after a specially called meeting of the utility’s board of directors.
MLGW engaged GDS Associates to study potential long-term power-supply alternatives. According to the executive summary of the GDS report, MLGW “finds itself at a crossroads regarding potential changes in its historical supply relationship with TVA, availability of new generation options and the potential for participation in Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) markets.”
At the Friday board meeting, Seth Brown of GDS outlined four scenarios, three of which contemplate nuclear power generated by the dormant Bellefonte nuclear facility near Scottsboro, Ala. At his news conference after the meeting, Young said litigation involving Bellefonte means that site “is not an option.”
“The study indicates that there are better options out there,” he said.
The fourth option in the GDS report placed MLGW in the MidContinent Independent System Operator’s balancing authority as an RTO Market Participant. MLGW also asked GDS to factor in a 15-percent wind portfolio.
Among the possible next steps for MLGW, per the report, are:
• Obtaining from TVA data on incremental costs of capacity, energy, transmission and ancillary services required to serve MLGW,
• Conducting a “discovery session” with MISO and
• Executing an MLGW-specific integrated resource plan (IRP).
“That [IRP] is a very, very detailed process,” Young said. “It’s something utilities typically do every five years or so; we don’t have our own generation, so we haven’t done one of late. It’ll take some time to figure out who will do that IRP.”