All four panelists at Wednesday's forum on nuclear energy agreed the decision to partner in or forgo the expansion of the nuclear South Texas Project will play a large role in shaping San Antonio's economic future.
That's where the agreement ended.
The San Antonio Clean Technology Forum brought in three national experts to join CPS Energy interim General Manager Steve Bartley.
The forum focused on the economics around the utility's plans to partner with NRG Energy to build two more nuclear reactors near Bay City.
The utility estimates the project will cost $13 billion and wants to take a 40 percent share. CPS already has spent $276 million on the planning and permitting, and the City Council is expected in October to vote on another $400 million to enable CPS to stay in the project.
CPS Energy announced its cost estimate for two more nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project near Bay City last week. The $13-billion price tag is the latest estimate in a sustained and systemic low-balling by utilities wishing to receive government subsidies.
CPS' partner, NRG Energy, recently pegged the cost of units 3 and 4 at $10 billion, a figure that has jumped nearly 50 percent from its original estimate of $5.4 billion.
Other analyses, however, have estimated the cost of two new reactors to be nearly 100 percent higher than the CPS estimate. Former Texas Office of Public Utility Counsel official Clarence Johnson recently estimated the cost of STP expansion to be $20 billion to $22 billion, while nuclear engineer and president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Dr. Arjun Makhijani estimated a cost of up to $17.5 billion in 2008.
Two troubling issues emerged from news that the cost estimate for the proposed expansion of nuclear generation at the South Texas Project has suddenly gone up by as much as $4 billion. That's a 30 percent increase, and CPS Energy won't have a fixed-price contract for the two new reactors until at least 2012.
Toshiba Corp., the main contractor for the expansion, may merely have thrown out the inflated cost as a negotiating tactic. That's what CPS Energy interim general manager Steve Bartley suggests it is.
Another explanation could be that Toshiba is weak in producing estimates, with the initial figures being too low or the current ones being too high.
Two troubling issues emerged from news that the cost estimate for the proposed expansion of nuclear generation at the South Texas Project has suddenly gone up by as much as $4 billion. That's a 30 percent increase, and CPS Energy won't have a fixed-price contract for the two new reactors until at least 2012.
Toshiba Corp., the main contractor for the expansion, may merely have thrown out the inflated cost as a negotiating tactic. That's what CPS Energy interim general manager Steve Bartley suggests it is.
Another explanation could be that Toshiba is weak in producing estimates, with the initial figures being too low or the current ones being too high.
CPS Energy has made two critical errors in their dealings on the South Texas Project (STP) nuclear plant: assuming that nuclear energy will be cheap and that the cost of alternatives is too high.
This month, just two days before the San Antonio City Council was to vote to approve $400 million in bonds to move forward with the STP expansion, CPS announced that the cost estimate for the project had risen as much as $4 billion. That brought the cost of expanding the nuclear power plant to $17 billion - a $12 billion increase from NRG Energy's original estimate just last year of $5.4 billion.
Cheaper and safer ways exist to meet the city's need for power. With the bond vote now pushed back until January, the City Council should take the time to get bids on alternative energy scenarios for San Antonio's new electric generation. This input would present the council with the most cost-effective, least risky, most environmentally sustainable plan possible.
CPS Energy has made two critical errors in their dealings on the South Texas Project (STP) nuclear plant: assuming that nuclear energy will be cheap and that the cost of alternatives is too high.
This month, just two days before the San Antonio City Council was to vote to approve $400 million in bonds to move forward with the STP expansion, CPS announced that the cost estimate for the project had risen as much as $4 billion. That brought the cost of expanding the nuclear power plant to $17 billion - a $12 billion increase from NRG Energy's original estimate just last year of $5.4 billion.
Cheaper and safer ways exist to meet the city's need for power. With the bond vote now pushed back until January, the City Council should take the time to get bids on alternative energy scenarios for San Antonio's new electric generation. This input would present the council with the most cost-effective, least risky, most environmentally sustainable plan possible.
"The air blowing overhead in the brightly lit courtroom made it hard to hear at times. Overhead projectors illuminated PowerPoint presentations on both sides of the room up front. There were microphones and laptops, too, some plugged into outlets along the walls.
And yet, with all the electricity thrumming through, nothing burned up CPS ratepayer dollars faster than the dozen-plus lawyers squabbling over the tattered relationship between CPS Energy and NRG Energy Inc., its co-owner in the floundering attempt to build two new nuclear plants at the South Texas Project.
Relationships being what they are, the most consistent comparison made since the dispute broke into the open late last year has been divorce. It seemed too easy at first, but then on Monday, Jelynne LeBlanc-Burley, the new interim general manager at CPS, wondered why my colleague, Anton Caputo, and I sat on the NRG side of the courtroom."
Nuclear Innovation North America argued in court Wednesday that CPS Energy had refused to pay its portion of January's development costs for the nuclear deal, a move that could kill the project.
But later Wednesday, CPS said it would pay its share of January's costs, eliminating one of the many legal points of contention between the partners.
"Our sole goal today was to ensure the ability of the STP expansion to continue past Jan. 1, and their decision accomplishes that goal," NRG spokesman Dave Knox said.
NINA is owned by NRG and Toshiba Inc.
Nuclear Innovation North America argued in court Wednesday that CPS Energy had refused to pay its portion of January's development costs for the nuclear deal, a move that could kill the project.
But later Wednesday, CPS said it would pay its share of January's costs, eliminating one of the many legal points of contention between the partners.
"Our sole goal today was to ensure the ability of the STP expansion to continue past Jan. 1, and their decision accomplishes that goal," NRG spokesman Dave Knox said.
NINA is owned by NRG and Toshiba Inc.
Concerns center on water usage, cost and spent fuel disposal.
The future of San Antonio's ever-growing power needs was addressed Aug. 26 in McAllister Fine Arts Center during KSTX's Town Hall forum on energy.
While the topic of the forum was all things energy, most of the evening's questions centered on CPS' proposed $10 billion-$13 billion expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear power plant in Bay City, which intends to add two additional nuclear reactors, as well as conversation on use of alternative and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.
Construction for the new reactors, dubbed STP 3 & 4, is slated to begin in 2012.
CPS' use of renewable resources, including solar, wind and natural gas, equals over 11 percent of the city's peak energy demand, according to the company's Web site. The Web site also lists a goal to increase that percentage to 20 percent by 2020.
As CPS Energy continues to present its case to the public for spending billions of dollars on two nuclear reactors, community groups opposed to the plan are banding together to make their own case.
A new organization, calling itself Energia Mia, is holding a press conference today before one of CPS Energy's neighborhood meetings that were set up for the utility to answer questions about its plan to partner in the expansion of the nuclear South Texas Project outside of Bay City.
"We have noticed that there are a lot of groups in San Antonio that have different reasons for opposing nuclear energy, but all have come to the conclusion that it is not in our best interest," said Cindy Weehler of the Consumers' Energy Coalition and one of Energia Mia's organizers. "We decided that we are going to have a venue or a forum. CPS is going out and educating the community on their side of the issue. We would like to educate people to our side of the issue."
Two additional nuclear reactors being considered by San Antonio's public utility will cost up to $13 billion, according to new cost estimates.
CPS Energy officials want to build the $10 billion to $13 billion reactors at the South Texas Project outside Bay City, saying its the most cost effective way to get additional power. CPS Energy owns 40 percent of the project. New Jersey-based NRG Energy owns the remaining portion, and the utilities would split the cost.
San Antonio ratepayers would be hit with a 5 percent rate increase every other year for the next decade to pay for the expansion, officials said Monday. But that rate projection assumes CPS can sell excess power to other utilities, something critics are wary of.
"NRG-CPS Energy lawsuit complicates ownership question
HOUSTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - A Japanese electric utility is mulling a stake in a Texas nuclear plant under development by NRG Energy Inc (NRG.N), which is a leading contender for billions of dollars in federal loan guarantees.
Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc (9501.T), operator of the world's largest nuclear plant in Japan, is considering taking a stake in the $10 billion-plus project to be built in South Texas by 2016, said a spokesman for the Japanese utility.
TEPCO's interest surfaced just as NRG's nuclear development unit and San Antonio utility CPS Energy prepared to square off in court in a dispute over CPS' right to reduce its ownership share or withdraw from the project."
CPS Energy's board unanimously agreed Tuesday to look for buyers for about half the utility's stake in the expansion of the nuclear South Texas Project, while borrowing $400 million more to continue plans to build the new reactors.
The change in strategy means the utility, which owns half of the project estimated to cost $13 billion, will cut its ownership to 20 percent to 25 percent. Now CPS must find buyers for the portion it wants to sell.
CPS Energy's board unanimously agreed Tuesday to look for buyers for about half the utility's stake in the expansion of the nuclear South Texas Project, while borrowing $400 million more to continue plans to build the new reactors.
The change in strategy means the utility, which owns half of the project estimated to cost $13 billion, will cut its ownership to 20 percent to 25 percent. Now CPS must find buyers for the portion it wants to sell.
Mayor Julian Castro City of San Antonio,Steve Bartley Interim General Manager, CPS Energy,Craig Severance, CPA Author, Business Risks & Costs of New Nuclear Power,Dr. Patrick Moore Co-Chair, Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, Dr. Arjun Makhijani President, Institute for Energy & Environmental Research
At the San Antonio Clean Tech Forum noted pundits square off and discuss the San Antonio's involvement in the proposed expansion of the South Texas Nuclear project.
Mayor Julian Castro City of San Antonio,Steve Bartley Interim General Manager, CPS Energy,Craig Severance, CPA Author, Business Risks & Costs of New Nuclear Power,Dr. Patrick Moore Co-Chair, Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, Dr. Arjun Makhijani President, Institute for Energy & Environmental Research
At the San Antonio Clean Tech Forum noted pundits square off and discuss the San Antonio's involvement in the proposed expansion of the South Texas Nuclear project.
"A critical court ruling today rang the first chime in what could be the death knell of the so-called "nuclear renaissance," starting with the failed expansion of the South Texas Project (STP).
This afternoon's ruling by 408th District Court Judge Larry Noll that CPS Energy can safely withdraw from the proposed STP expansion project without losing all its investment offers the utility and the city of San Antonio the cue they've been waiting for to exit the national nuclear stage. Combined with the NRG Energy CEO's announcement during a shareholder and press conference call this morning that NRG would "wind down the project as quickly and economically as possible" if CPS withdraws or STP does not receive federal loan guarantees, this news marks a major blow to those who claim nuclear power is a viable alternative to fossil fuel energy. The expansion project calls for two new nuclear reactors at a site with two existing reactors."
"Documents show a former general manager of San Antonio-owned CPS Energy is getting about $390,000 in his settlement with the utility.
Steve Bartley resigned Nov. 25 during the investigation into why higher-than-expected nuclear cost estimates to expand the South Texas Project were kept from the CPS board.
The San Antonio Express News reported details Thursday based on documents obtained under a public records request.
The newspaper reports Bartley will receive 15 months of base salary. He also will get credit for about 21 extra months of service to quality for an early pension and health coverage."
It took some doing, and some help from his friends, but Mayor Julián Castro appears to have finally wrested a resignation from CPS Energy Board Chair Aurora Geis this week. Geis was repolishing her resignation Tuesday afternoon, while stating she felt strongly that she is leaving utility on the right path despite the challenges that are ahead.
"The timing of it is not what I would have preferred because there is so much stability that needs to be put in place," Geis said. "But now the greater challenge that we face is identifying a candidate who will be willing to serve."
It took some doing, and some help from his friends, but Mayor Julián Castro appears to have finally wrested a resignation from CPS Energy Board Chair Aurora Geis this week. Geis was repolishing her resignation Tuesday afternoon, while stating she felt strongly that she is leaving utility on the right path despite the challenges that are ahead.
"The timing of it is not what I would have preferred because there is so much stability that needs to be put in place," Geis said. "But now the greater challenge that we face is identifying a candidate who will be willing to serve."
"A federal court judge Wednesday ordered a stop to all activity in the $32 billion nuclear lawsuit while he decides if the case belongs under federal jurisdiction.
Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas is expected to rule today on whether a citizens group that is trying to intervene has standing to get the case moved to federal court.
Until then, the opponents in the suit - CPS Energy and NRG Energy - have had to halt depositions they were conducting for a trial that was set to start Monday in state court.
The citizens group, the Ratepayer Protection Coalition, argues CPS has violated the coalition's constitutional rights, which would make this a federal case."
With its recent recommendation to move forward with construction of two new nuclear power units in South Texas, the staff of CPS Energy has placed San Antonio at the forefront of a national debate that has been raging for more than two dozen years.
There hasn't been a new nuclear power reactor constructed in the U.S. since the 1970s, but now there are five potential units on the horizon, including two that would be located in South Texas supplying power for CPS Energy - which serves San Antonio and Bexar County.
Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman came to San Antonio recently as co-chair of a group advocating for the expansion of nuclear energy nationwide and acknowledged the Alamo City's central role in the debate.
Board Chair Aurora Gies opened the special meeting of CPS Energy's Board of Trustees in a bunker in the bowels in the Alamodome with a defense of the utility's clean-energy pursuits. "We don't want to compromise our pursuit of other technologies," Geis said. "We want to be able to support these technologies as they mature in the future."
While her insistence that nuclear expansion will in no way limit the city's ability to aggressively pursue cleaner options has become an expected soundbite over the past months, today's - offered moments before a unanimous vote to devote itself to nuclear power expansion - was especially anemic.
Board Chair Aurora Gies opened the special meeting of CPS Energy's Board of Trustees in a bunker in the bowels in the Alamodome with a defense of the utility's clean-energy pursuits. "We don't want to compromise our pursuit of other technologies," Geis said. "We want to be able to support these technologies as they mature in the future."
While her insistence that nuclear expansion will in no way limit the city's ability to aggressively pursue cleaner options has become an expected soundbite over the past months, today's - offered moments before a unanimous vote to devote itself to nuclear power expansion - was especially anemic.
CPS Energy trustees took no action Wednesday morning after deliberating for nearly 11 hours over the fate of several top executives connected to a nuclear cost estimate - much higher than expected - that was kept from the utility's board and the City Council.
The board came out of executive session shortly before 1 a.m. to announce that it would continue deliberation Monday.
"The seriousness of this issue warrants that this board takes care, takes caution," Chairwoman Aurora Geis told the sparse crowd that waited. "People's lives are at stake."
Tuesday's meeting was a continuation of Monday's nearly five-hour session, during which the board heard results of an internal investigation into how contractor Toshiba Inc.'s high cost estimate for the multibillion-dollar nuclear expansion was kept under wraps.
CPS Energy trustees took no action Wednesday morning after deliberating for nearly 11 hours over the fate of several top executives connected to a nuclear cost estimate - much higher than expected - that was kept from the utility's board and the City Council.
The board came out of executive session shortly before 1 a.m. to announce that it would continue deliberation Monday.
"The seriousness of this issue warrants that this board takes care, takes caution," Chairwoman Aurora Geis told the sparse crowd that waited. "People's lives are at stake."
Tuesday's meeting was a continuation of Monday's nearly five-hour session, during which the board heard results of an internal investigation into how contractor Toshiba Inc.'s high cost estimate for the multibillion-dollar nuclear expansion was kept under wraps.
The public conversation about expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear facility has been surprisingly low-key. On the other hand, this isn't a debate about a new sports arena or protecting trees.
This is about complexity: the city's future energy sources in an uncertain global marketplace weighed against the unprecedented cost of the expansion, and other community investments San Antonio will have to forgo if it commits to expansion.
Mayor Julián Castro and others I've spoken to in the leadership community tend to frame their eventual decision as an economic one that can't be made until CPS Energy puts a price on the project. Preliminary estimates by pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear interests have varied wildly from the $20 billion range down to last week's estimate of $10 billion made by the builder, NRG Energy.
The CPS staff will deliver its much-anticipated estimate at the June 29 board meeting. After that, expect the public conversation to intensify in advance of a City Council vote in the fall.
