Treasure Coast Energy Center among the most affordable, reliable and clean units of its kind

FORT PIERCE, Fla., May 31, 2018 – Electric customers in 13 Florida cities enjoy reliable, affordable electricity thanks, in part, to the Treasure Coast Energy Center (TCEC), which marks its 10-year anniversary of operation today.

This natural gas-fueled power plant located in Fort Pierce, Fla., generates 300 megawatts, enough electricity to serve approximately 60,000 homes in the 13 communities served by the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) All-Requirements Project. The plant is operated under contract by Fort Pierce Utilities Authority and employs 13 full-time employees under the supervision of Ed Leongomez, who has served as the plant manager since it began commercial operations on May 31, 2008.

Since beginning commercial operation in 2008, the plant has consistently exceeded expectations for reliability, efficiency and environmental responsibility. Its accomplishments include:

• Producing 17.7 million megawatt-hours of electricity.
• Operating nearly 99% of the time it has been available for service. Treasure Coast is an important unit to operate in FMPA’s generation fleet because of the low-cost electricity it produces.
• Having a forced outage factor of just over 1%, with less than 1,000 hours of unplanned repairs in the past 10 years. The national average is more than 2% per year.
• Having some of the lowest emissions rates for fossil generation in both Florida and the country. TCEC has nitrogen oxide emissions 93% below the Florida average and 95% lower than the U.S. average. Sulfur dioxide emissions are 99% lower than both the Florida and U.S. averages.
• Contributing to a reduction in wholesale power costs. Investments in modern, high-efficiency plants, like Treasure Coast, along with low prices for natural gas, have allowed FMPA to decrease the cost of wholesale power by 26% since 2009.

“Treasure Coast Energy Center is a valuable part of our power generating fleet,” said FMPA General Manager and CEO Jacob Williams. “Its reliability and efficiency enables us to provide low cost, reliable and clean power to our member-owners and the customers they serve.

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Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) is a wholesale power agency owned by 31 municipal electric utilities. FMPA’s mission is to provide power that is competitively priced, reliable and clean, as well as provide value-added services for its owner-customers. The 31 members of FMPA serve more than two million Floridians and employ more than 3,300 people.