Southwestern Electric Power coal burn rises in July: filing

Southwestern Electric Power Company generated 1.03 million MWh of power from Powder River Basin coal in July, up from 970,500 MWh in June and 757,166 MWh in the year-ago month, a state regulatory filing showed Sept. 16.

Coal's generation mix for the Columbus, Ohio-based utility's three coal plants in Arkansas and Texas ticked lower to 41.8% in July, down from 42.1% in June, but up from 31% in July 2020, according to the filing published by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

SWEPCO burned $23.17 million worth of Powder River Basin coal in July, compared with $21.04 million in June and $16.87 million in the year-ago month.

However, on a cost-per-MWh basis, dispatch price for coal rose to $22.50/MWh in July, up from $21.68/MWh in the previous month and $22.28/MWh in July 2020.

At the three coal-fired plants, coal's capacity factor was at 78.6% in July, compared with 76.6% in June and 57.8% in the year-ago month.

SWEPCO generated 472,456 MWh of power from natural gas in July, which made up 19.2% of the mix, compared with 405,841 MWh, or 17.6%, in June, and 569,482 MWh, or 23.3%, in July 2020.

Lignite made up 12.1% of the stack in July, up from 9.7% in June and also 9.7% in July 2020, while purchased power made up the remaining 26.9%, compared with 30.6% in June and 36% in the year-ago month.

Monthly purchases decline

SWEPCO bought 727,766 st of 8,837 Btu/lb coal at an average delivered cost of $37.35/st in July, up from 569,603 st at $34.82/st in June and 459,399 st bought in the year-ago month at an average cost of $32.99/st.

For the Flint Creek plant, in Benton County, Arkansas, the utility bought 167,992 st of coal at an average delivered price of $31.75/st in July, up from 122,308 st at $27.43/st in June.

The average heat content for the coal, which was sold by Peabody Energy and Bluegrass Commodities, was 8,681 Btu/lb. Roughly 152,908 st of the coal came from Peabody at $31.81/st.

In July, the utility bought 163,320 st at an average delivered price of $37.46/st for its Turk power plant in Hempstead County, Arkansas, up from 142,390 st at $37.05/st in June. The average heat content for the coal delivered from Peabody was 8,620 Btu/lb.

The Welsh power plant, based in Titus County, Texas, bought 396,454 st of coal from Peabody at an average price of $39.68/st, up from 304,906 st at $36.74/st in June. The average heat content for the coal delivered to the Welsh plant was 8,988 Btu/lb.

Roughly 4.67 million st of PRB coal was delivered to SWEPCO in 2020, including 3.92 million st of coal from Peabody Energy's North Antelope Rochelle mine, at an average delivered cost of $31.32/st, according to US Energy Information Administration data.