NPPD Finds Buyer Interest For Cooper Nuclear Plant's Pwr
CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- Seventeen companies have indicated interest in buying supplies from Nebraska Pubic Power District's 800-megawatt Cooper Nuclear plant, an official for the utility's power marketing agency said Friday. Those 17 companies have sent letters of intent to The Energy Authority, a nonprofit marketer for NPPD and nine other public power utilities, in response to a late May request for proposals, said Dave McCue, marketing manager at The Energy Authority.
All of those companies were expected to forward actual proposals to the agency by the late Friday proposal deadline, suggesting there may be enough interest in Cooper's power to hold off a premature shutdown at the aging nuclear facility.
NPPD wants to find customers to buy about 400 megawatts of Cooper power starting in late 2004, when a long-term 400-megawatt sales deal with Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s (BRKA, BRKB) MidAmerican Energy Co. expires.
Mid-American has said that it doesn't intend to renew that deal, citing its own plans to build new capacity and the high cost of power generated at Cooper. Without new buyers, NPPD has said that may have to shut Cooper down in 2004, a decade before the plant's operating license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission expires.
NPPD is offering three kinds of deals for Cooper's capacity. In one deal, the buyers would only pay for and receive megawatts when Cooper is operating. Another deal would be similar, but would also hinge on operations at NPPD's coal plants. In a third deal, NPPD would deliver power all the time, even if multiple units shut down and it had to buy that power on the market.
NPPD wants to sell up to 400 megawatts of Cooper's output from September 2004 to January 2014 in 25-megawatt blocks, covering the time between the expiration of the MidAmerican deal and the expiration of Cooper's license. NPPD set a minimum acceptable term of at least five years for the future deals.
McCue said the 17 notices from potential buyers show interest for well over 400 megawatts, but not all buyers appear interested in deals stretching five or more years.
NPPD will issue a short list of potential buyers by Aug. 30.
"We would intend to have a final contract by the end of the year," McCue said.
Marcia Cady, spokeswoman for NPPD, said the utility's board is planning a special meeting Aug. 20 to discuss Cooper's future. It's likely that a final decision on whether to shut the plant down early will also come by the end of the year, she said.
-By Jon Kamp; Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4129; jon.kamp at dowjones.com
(This story was originally published by Dow Jones Newswires)
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