Maintaining optimum plant performance provides low-cost power for customers

ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 23, 2018 – For the sixth consecutive year, the Florida Municipal Power Agency’s (FMPA) major power plants outperformed industry averages for reliability, which is key for providing low-cost wholesale electricity to the 13 cities the agency serves.

FMPA’s power costs for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2018, were down 6 percent compared to the year-ago period. Since 2009, FMPA’s wholesale power costs are down a total of 29 percent during a time when power costs nationwide increased 7 percent.

“More than 80 percent of the electricity for our 13 cities comes from three main power plants, so maintaining optimum performance from these efficient units helps FMPA provide low-cost power,” said FMPA General Manager and CEO Jacob Williams. “We appreciate the dedication of our plant staff to operate our plants so reliably.”

It often takes special effort to keep a power plant available 90 percent of the time, or more than 328 days per year, which FMPA’s generation fleet achieved overall the past 12 months. The national average for similar units is 84 percent.

This year, FMPA’s Cane Island Unit 4 was scheduled for a major maintenance outage, which is a longer-than-normal outage that occurs every few years. To meet the fleet-wide performance goal, FMPA’s generation team had to minimize unplanned unit outages and find a way to shorten planned outages.

Power plant staff from a generation site in Kissimmee worked with plant staff from a generation site in Fort Pierce to perform select maintenance while the Fort Pierce unit was still operating. This creative solution shortened a planned outage that enabled FMPA’s generation fleet to exceed its performance goal for the year.

“The way our generation fleet team worked together this year was fantastic,” said Williams. “I am proud of our people who go all out every day to keep power costs low for customers.”

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Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) is a wholesale power agency owned by 32 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 32 members of FMPA serve nearly 2.5 million Floridians and employ more than 3,600 people.