Coal news and updates

Tampa Electric saw its coal burn fall to 49,854 st in May, up 51.9% from the 32,825 st burned in April, according to the filing published June 28 by the Florida Public Service Commission.

 

Coal's generation mix was at 6.6% in May, compared with 4.3 % in April, while total generation was 108,168 MWh, up from 63,348 MWh.

 

Natural gas' mix was 84.3% in May, compared with 86.7% in April. Gas generated about 1.4 GWh in the most recent month, up from over 1.3 GWh in the previous month.

 

Solar generation made up the remaining 9% in May, flat from April.

 

In 2020, Tampa Electric's coal's mix was 4.9%, down from 6.1% in 2019, while natural gas and solar were 89.1% and 6%, respectively, compared with 90% and 3.9% a year earlier.

 

In May, average fuel cost for coal was at $77.25/st, down from $85.41st in April.

 

Coal averaged $3.34/MMBtu, down from $3.67/MMBtu in April, while gas averaged $3.95/MMBtu in May, compared with $3.37/MMBtu the previous month.

 

The heat-rate efficiency for coal in May was at 10.658 Btu/kWh, while gas was at 8,387 Btu/kWh, resulting in dispatch prices of roughly $35.60/MWh and $33.20/MWh, respectively. In March, coal's dispatch price was $44.30/MWh and gas was $27.50/MWh.

 

At the end of May, Tampa Electric's coal stockpile was at 269,943 st, or 118 days of supply, compared with 223,641 st after April.

 

Coal purchases for the month totaled 96,156 st in May, up from 51,062 st in April.

 

Tampa Electric spent roughly $4.9 million, or $50.60/st, on the coal in May, up from $3.7 million, or $72.96/st, in April.

 

The utility purchased 343,212 st of coal in 2020 at an average cost of $60.39/st, down from 519,665 st at $69.08/st in the same period a year earlier.

 

Source : https://www.spglobal.com/platts