Tampa Electric - Selective Catalytic Reduction

Selective Catalytic Reduction

Bill Whale
Vice President,
Energy Supply

Dear Customer,

Earlier this year, I told you about an exciting new emissions reduction project we are planning for Big Bend Power Station. Specifically, we are installing Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from the plant. This project will cost approximately $300 million and will reduce nitrogen oxide emissions at Big Bend Power Station by roughly 85 percent from 1998 levels by 2012.

The reason for this letter is to bring you up-to-date on the project.

For those of you who were unable to attend our Open House, SCR technology works very much like the catalytic converter on your car, which also is used to reduce emissions produced by the car’s internal combustion engine. Exhaust exiting your car’s tailpipe passes through the catalytic converter, where a chemical reaction takes place reducing emissions.

At a power plant, exhaust emissions pass through the SCR, where the nitrogen oxide reacts with ammonia and a catalyst and is converted to elemental nitrogen and water.

Here’s where we are on the project to date:

Preliminary ground work has started on Unit 4. Piling installation was completed on September 7, 2005. Foundations and existing structural steel modifications will soon follow, with a target completion date of December 31, 2005.
The SCR support structure and ductwork installation will begin January 2, 2006. Once this phase starts, construction activity will be continuous until the project completion in May 2010. Construction will overlap from unit to unit proceeding in this order: Unit 4, 3, 2 and 1.
By June 2006, the project should reach peak construction manpower requirements and remain constant until the second quarter of 2009.

If you attended one of our Open House meetings in February, you may recall learning about the need to deliver ammonia to Big Bend Power Station. The best solution known for safely transporting ammonia is by underground piping.

We’ve spent the last few months looking at a number of alternative pipeline routes including using existing Tampa Electric transmission right-of-way, which would have been the low-cost solution. However, the proximity of the right-of-way to neighborhoods and schools made this route less desirable to us.

Instead, we’ve selected a route that essentially follows the public right-of-way along the west side of U.S. 41 from Port Sutton Road to Big Bend Power Station. Installing the pipeline along U.S. 41 may cost a little more, but we feel it is the best choice. We plan to use both open trenching and directional boring for river and creek crossings. Our goal is to safely install this pipeline with minimal disruptions to businesses or traffic.

We hope to get started with preliminary surveying beginning as soon as October 1. After that time you may see workers measuring and identifying existing utilities along the right of way prior to pipeline installation. Once the actual installation of the pipeline begins, we expect it to take about six months.

Again, thank you for your continued interest in the Big Bend Power Station SCR project.

Thank you.

Bill Whale
Vice President-Energy Supply

Note: In early 2006, Bill Whale (Vice President-Energy Supply at the time of this letter) became Vice President-Energy Delivery. Tom Hernandez (formerly Vice President-Energy Delivery) now oversees the company's power generation operations as Vice President-Energy Supply. Any future communications on the SCR project will come from Mr. Hernandez.