Subject:
Title
Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding with Duke Energy Florida for purchase of as-available energy and/or parallel operation with a qualifying facility.
label
Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approval and execution by the County Administrator of both the Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Duke Energy Florida (DEF) for purchase of as-available energy and/or parallel operation with a qualifying facility.
• Execution of both the Agreement and MOU are necessary before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) considers and approves.
• FERC approval is necessary before DEF approves interconnection agreement for power generated by the Waste-To-Energy (WTE) Facility to be connected to the DEF distribution power grid.
• Expedited document approval is necessary to provide the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the required 60-days to review and approve. FERC approval is necessary on or before December 31, 2024.
• In the interest of time, the County Administrator is requested to execute both documents and later submit for Board consideration and ratification at a date to be determined.
• Also, in the interest of time, the County shall execute the documents first and DEF second.
Strategic Plan:
Practice Superior Environmental Stewardship
3.3 Protect and improve the quality of our water, air, and other natural resources.
3.4 Reduce/reuse/recycle resources, including energy, water, and solid waste.
Summary:
Approval and execution by the County Administrator of both the Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Duke Energy Florida (DEF) for purchase of as-available energy and/or parallel operation with a qualifying facility.
Background/Explanation:
The Solid Waste WTE Facility generates approximately 75MW of power when operating at 100% efficiency. Since 1984, the County and DEF have co-terminus Interconnectivity and Power Purchase Agreements permitting the WTE Facility generated power to be sold to DEF. Both agreements expire on December 31, 2024.
The Pinellas County WTE Facility is a FERC designated ‘Qualified Facility (QF)’, which permits the sale of power to any energy utility. The current DEF PPA standard offer agreement is not economically attractive. Therefore, the decision has been made to sell generated power using an real-time energy broker to energy utilities demanding power. To do so requires an interconnectivity agreement with DEF to connect generated power to the electrical power grid. If the County desires to enter into a PPA with DEF at later date, the interconnectivity agreement would be necessary.
Before an interconnectivity agreement can be executed, FERC requires both the Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Duke Energy Florida (DEF) for purchase of as-available energy and/or parallel operation with a qualifying facility to be executed by both parties. By law, FERC has 60-days to consider and approve the agreements.
To provide time for the FERC 60-day review and the final interconnectivity agreement on or before December 31, 2024, an expedited review and execution by the County Administrator is recommended. The agreement and MOU will be later brought to the Board for consideration and ratification. If the December 31, 2024, deadline is missed, no power will be generated by the WTE Facility. Trash would be incinerated, and the process steam vented to the atmosphere.
Fiscal Impact:
There is no fiscal impact as these are administrative documents that provide for the transmission of generated power to the electrical grid.
Delegated Authority:
After the fact ratification
Staff Member Responsible:
Paul Sacco, Director, Solid Waste
Partners:
Duke Energy Florida
Attachments:
Agreement for purchase of as-available energy and/or parallel operation with a qualifying facility
MOU for purchase of as-available energy with a qualifying facility