The same calculations would find FPL’s “Southeast Market” pipeline not needed, including Spectra’s Sabal Trail pipeline.

Mark Harrington wrote for NewsDay 31 July 2014, PSEG review finds Caithness II not needed,

PSEG Long Island has found that the proposed Caithness II power plant in Yaphank “will not be needed” because the Island has enough capacity to meet state requirements for the next five years, according to PSEG officials close to the project.

After a months-long review of LIPA power sources, the analysis reached a different, and less dramatic, conclusion than an earlier LIPA review, which called for an additional power plant by 2018 to help meet what it said was a capacity shortfall projected to surpass 1,200 megawatts by 2023. A megawatt powers about 800 homes.

Suggesting the review would help avoid near-term rate increases, the PSEG officials said Long Island “is expected to have sufficient capacity to handle the power needs of the region until approximately 2020, with no, or minimal, amounts of additional build required.”

This part sounds really familiar:

As previously reported in Newsday, the facility would obligate ratepayers to nearly half a billion dollars in payments in lieu of taxes over 20 years and require hundreds of millions in additional costs for a major electric transmission upgrade and the new gas pipeline.

Remember, FPL’s own projections to FL PSC say Florida only needs 13% more power over the next decade. And this year’s projections are down from FPL’s 17% projection in 2011. Yet FPL wants to add a third fracked methane pipeline, for a 50% increase in “natural” gas to Florida. That doesn’t add up. FL PSC or FPL should do the same calculations PSEG did and cancel the Sabal Trail pipeline.

FPL claims in its FERC filing of 21 April 2014 that it’s “a strong supporter of solar power”. Yet its 2014 FL PSC ten year plan shows zero new solar production increase from its 2011 plan. It’s time for FPL to get serious about solar power, because according to Sabal Trail’s own figures it would take half as much land as that pipeline to produce just as much solar power. Which sould let Florida shut down more coal plants, because by FPL’s own figures, Florida doesn’t need as much power as that pipeline.

-jsq

PS: PSEG article owed to Debra Johnson.

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