City of Houston Reneges on NRG Solar Energy Deal | Cooler Planet News - 0 views
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Energy Net on 21 Dec 09Back in September, the City of Houston agreed to buy all the solar power from a proposed NRG $40-million solar plant on a 25-year power purchase agreement, or PPA. The deal called for NRG to foot the bill for the plant, and the city to pay for the power at a rate of 8.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first year. What this meant, in real-world terms, was that NRG would supplant some of the solar output with power from other plants, giving the city an effective rate of 8.2 cents, though the agreement overall calls for Houston to pay 19.8 cents per kilowatt-hour. If built, the 10-megawatt solar plant would have been the biggest in the state, providing up to 1.5 percent of the city's electrical needs at a locked-in price on 90 percent of production - a fixed rate that would have served the city well if Reliant Energy raised its rates due to rising costs of oil, gas or coal. Reliant Energy's generation mix is 39.8 percent, followed by natural gas at 23 percent and coal at 22.5 percent - the former two prices likely to rise as the recession eases and tension over Middle East oil prices and production rises.
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Energy Net on 21 Dec 09Back in September, the City of Houston agreed to buy all the solar power from a proposed NRG $40-million solar plant on a 25-year power purchase agreement, or PPA. The deal called for NRG to foot the bill for the plant, and the city to pay for the power at a rate of 8.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first year. What this meant, in real-world terms, was that NRG would supplant some of the solar output with power from other plants, giving the city an effective rate of 8.2 cents, though the agreement overall calls for Houston to pay 19.8 cents per kilowatt-hour. If built, the 10-megawatt solar plant would have been the biggest in the state, providing up to 1.5 percent of the city's electrical needs at a locked-in price on 90 percent of production - a fixed rate that would have served the city well if Reliant Energy raised its rates due to rising costs of oil, gas or coal. Reliant Energy's generation mix is 39.8 percent, followed by natural gas at 23 percent and coal at 22.5 percent - the former two prices likely to rise as the recession eases and tension over Middle East oil prices and production rises.