Discussion
of Issues
Issue 1:
Should the Commission approve the proposed amendment
to the intermittent electric standby power agreement between Tampa Electric,
Duke, and Mosaic?
Recommendation:
Yes. The Commission should approve the proposed
amendment to the current intermittent electric standby power agreement between
Tampa Electric, Duke, and Mosaic, effective on the date of a final Commission
order approving the amendment. The amended agreement is consistent with the
Commission’s policy of encouraging agreements, promotes renewable energy, and
has no immediate impact on Tampa Electric’s and Duke’s general body of
ratepayers. (Ward, Coston, Draper)
Staff Analysis:
The current agreement as approved in the 2015 order
and the proposed amendment address the supply of electric service to certain
Mosaic facilities located in Hardee County. Specifically, the Mosaic facilities
at issue are the South Pierce Generating Facilities (South Pierce), the South
Pasture Beneficiation Plant (South Pasture), the Bartow Generating Facilities
(Bartow), and the South Fort Meade Beneficiation Plant (South Fort Meade). The
current agreement allows Tampa Electric to provide intermittent standby power to
Mosaic during infrequent periods when generation from the South Pierce facility
is not sufficient to serve the South Pasture load.
The proposed amendment would expand Mosaic’s ability to
utilize its self-generated renewable energy to serve its own facilities by
adding the provision of electricity from Mosaic’s Bartow facility, which
generates power, to Mosaic’s South Fort Meade facility. Under the proposed
amendment, Tampa Electric would also provide intermittent electric standby
power to Mosaic’s South Fort Meade facility when generation from the South
Pierce or Bartow facilities is not sufficient. The amendment would become
effective on the date of a final Commission order approving the amendment. The
proposed amendment is shown in Attachment A of the recommendation.
Description of Mosaic’s Facilities
Maps of the current Mosaic facilities and the facilities
and associated changes to Mosaic’s operations that would be accomplished by the
proposed agreement are shown in Attachment B, pages 1 and 2, of the
recommendation. The South Pierce and South Pasture facilities were at issue in
the 2015 order; the proposed amendment addresses the provision of electricity
to the Bartow and South Fort Meade facilities.
South Pierce
South Pierce is a qualifying cogeneration facility
which consists of two steam-turbine generators that generate electricity from
waste heat captured during the fertilizer production process. Mosaic uses the
electricity generated to self-service the South Pierce facility and directs the
excess electricity generated to serve the full load of the South Pasture plant.
As addressed in the 2015 order, in the event generation from the South Pierce
facility is not sufficient to serve the South Pasture load, Tampa Electric
provides standby power to the South Pierce facility. Tampa Electric only serves
the load at South Pasture when the South Pierce cogeneration is off-line for
repair or maintenance, or the combined load of the South Pierce and South
Pasture facilities exceeds the output of the South Pierce cogeneration
facility. Such intermittent electric service is characterized as standby
service. The South Pierce and South Pasture plant are connected via a
transmission line owned by Mosaic and located on Mosaic-owned property. The
South Pierce facility is located in Tampa Electric’s service territory.
South Pasture
The South Pasture plant produces fertilizer products and
is currently served by Tampa Electric under the intermittent electric standby
power agreement approved in the 2015 order. The South Pasture plant is located in
Peace River Electric Cooperative’s (Peace River) service territory. Prior to
approval of the current agreement, Duke provided service to the South Pasture plant
because the facility requires service at transmission level and Peace River
does not have transmission level facilities in the area. Pursuant to the
current agreement, which provided for Tampa Electric to provide standby power
to the South Pasture load, Duke no longer provides standby power to the South Pasture
plant, because only one utility can be connected to the Mosaic facilities at a
time. Commission approval of the current agreement was necessary to allow Tampa
Electric to provide standby service to South Pasture which is located in an
area Duke is permitted to serve.
Bartow
Bartow is a qualifying cogneration facility which consists
of two steam-turbine generators that generate renewable energy from waste heat
captured during the fertilizer production process. Mosaic uses the electricity
generated to self-service the South Fort Meade facility and sells any excess
energy to Tampa Electric under the as-available COG-1 tariff. Tampa Electric
provides standby service to Bartow, which is located in Tampa Electric’s
service territory.
South Fort Meade
The South Fort Meade plant produces fertilizer products
and is currently served by Duke under the Interruptible General Service rate
schedule. South Fort Meade is located in Peace River’s service territory;
however, pursuant to a territorial agreement between Duke and Peace River, Duke
provides service to South Fort Meade because the facility requires service at
transmission level. The Petitioners
state that Peace River has read the amended agreement and Peace River's consent
to approval and implementation of the amended agreement is attached as Exhibit C
to the petition.
Mosaic’s Transmission Lines
Mosaic owns a 10-mile 69 kilovolt transmission line that
connects the South Pierce facility to the South Pasture facility. As shown in
Attachment B, page 2 of 2, to the recommendation, Mosaic plans to extend this
transmission line to connect the South Pierce and Bartow facilities to the South
Pasture and the South Fort Meade facilities. Mosaic stated that they plan to
have this extension, which is known as the South
Pasture South Fort Meade Tie Line, completed by the third quarter of 2021. The
transmission line will be owned by Mosaic and solely located on Mosaic-owned
property, with the exception of crossings of public right of ways, such as
roads. This type of arrangement is referred to as self-service.
Proposed Amendment
The primary purpose of the proposed amendment is to expand
Mosaic’s ability to utilize its renewable energy to serve its own facilities by
connecting the Bartow generating facility, once construction of the new
transmission line is complete, to the South Pasture and South Fort Meade facilities.
If the amendment is approved and the transmission line extension completed,
Tampa Electric would also be able to provide intermittent standby power to Bartow
and South Fort Meade. Commission approval of the proposed amendment is
required, because the South Fort Meade facility is currently served by Duke. As
discussed in the 2015 order, only one utility can be connected electrically to
the Mosaic facilities at a time.
The Petitioners explained that the infrequent circumstance
under which Tampa Electric would provide standby power to the South Pasture or
South Fort Meade facilities is when the generating South Pierce or Bartow
facilities are de-rated or offline for repair or maintenance, or when the South
Pasture or South Fort Meade load exceeds the output of the South Pierce and
Bartow facilities.
The current and the proposed agreement include a 3,500
Megawatt-hour annual cap on the amount of standby power Tampa Electric can
provide to Mosaic. If the cap is exceeded, Mosaic would disconnect the South
Pasture and South Fort Meade facilities from its generation facilities and
connect the two facilities to Duke. The purpose of the negotiated cap is to
ensure that Tampa Electric’s standby service is infrequent and intermittent.
Once Mosaic has purchased a certain amount of electricity from Duke as outlined
in paragraph 6 of the proposed agreement, Mosaic will reconnect its facilities
and the cap will be reset to zero.
Conclusion
As noted in the
2015 order, the Florida Supreme Court found that an individual does not have
the right to service by a particular utility merely because the individual
deems it advantageous. However,
the proposed amendment to the agreement for intermittent standby power is
confined to unique and limited circumstances as presented by the facts of this
case. The amended agreement maintains the current territorial boundaries for
Tampa Electric and Duke, while allowing Mosaic to self-generate power to serve its
South Pasture and South Fort Meade loads.
Staff
recommends that the Commission should approve the proposed amendment to the
current intermittent electric standby power agreement between Tampa Electric,
Duke, and Mosaic, effective on the date of a final Commission order approving
the amendment. The proposed amended agreement is consistent with the
Commission's policy of encouraging agreements, promotes renewable energy, and
has no immediate impact on Tampa Electric's and Duke's general body of
ratepayers.
Issue 2:
Should this docket be closed?
Recommendation:
Yes. If no protest is filed by a person whose substantial
interests are affected within 21 days of the issuance of the Order, this docket
should be closed upon the issuance of a Consummating Order. (Brownless)
Staff Analysis:
If no protest is filed by a person whose substantial
interests are affected within 21 days of the issuance of the Order, this docket
should be closed upon the issuance of a Consummating Order.
