Southwestern Electric Power coal burn rises in October: filing

Houston — Southwestern Electric Power Company generated 571,711 MWh of power from Powder River Basin coal in October, up from 541,088 MWh in September and 558,890 MWh in the year-ago month, according to a regulatory filing published Dec. 15.

Coal's generation mix for the Columbus, Ohio-based utility's three coal plants in Arkansas and Texas rose to 37.9% in October, up from 28.5% in September and 30.2% in October 2019, according to the filing published by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

SWEPCO burned $12.03 million worth of PRB coal in October, up from $11.42 million in September and $11.95 million in the year-ago month.

On a cost per MWh basis, dispatch price for coal was at $21.04/MWh in October, down from $21.10/MWh in September and $21.38/MWh in the year-ago month.

At the three coal-fired plants, coal's capacity factor was at 43.7% in October, up from 41.3% in September and 42.7% in the year-ago month.

SWEPCO generated 196,676 MWh of power from natural gas in October, which made up 13% of the mix, compared with 375,214 MWh, or 19.8% in September, and 100,171 MWh, or 5.4%, in October 2019.

Lignite made up 6.8% of the stack in October, up from 4.9% in September and 0.4% in October 2019, while purchased power made up the remaining 42.3%, down from 46.8% in September and 64% in the year-ago month.

Monthly purchases tick lower on month

SWEPCO purchased 362,379 st of 8,594 Btu/lb coal at an average delivered cost of $32.70/st in October, compared with 362,911 st at $36.29/st in September and 522,836 st at $31.05/st in October 2019.

For the Flint Creek plant, in Benton County, Arkansas, the utility bought 139,059 st of coal at an average delivered price of $29.35/st in October, compared with 76,551 st at $28.90/st in the prior month and 153,431 st at an average price of $30.54/st in the year-ago month. Average heat content for the coal, which was sold by Peabody and Bluegrass Commodities, was 8,558 Btu/lb.

In October, the utility bought 92,877 st of coal at an average delivered price of $35.94/st for its Welsh power plant in Titus County, Texas, down from 122,563 st at an average $37.57/st in September and 181,200 st at $37.55/st in the year-ago month. Average heat content for the coal delivered from Peabody Energy was 8,574 Btu/lb.

The Turk power plant, based in Hempstead County, Arkansas, purchased 131,444 st of coal from Peabody at an average price of $33.91/st, down from 163,797 st at $37.92/st in September and 188,206 st at an average price of $39.07/st in the year-ago month. Average heat content for the coal delivered to the Turk plant was 8,645 Btu/lb.

In 2019, SWEPCO took delivery of over 6.78 million st of PRB coal at an average delivered price of $34.63/st, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration. Over 85% of the coal came from Peabody Energy's Wyoming-based North Antelope Rochelle mine.

Through the first nine months of 2020, roughly 3.31 million st of PRB coal was delivered to SWEPCO, including 2.88 million st of coal from the North Antelope Rochelle mine, at an average delivered cost of $31.30/st, according to the EIA data.