Project will produce enough electricity to power more than 100,000 homes
Tampa Electric has completed construction on the expansion of the Polk Power Station, including about 40 miles of transmission lines. The project began commercial operation today.
“This is a win-win for our customers and the environment,” said Gordon Gillette, president and chief executive officer of Tampa Electric. “This project allows Tampa Electric to increase the plant’s output to better serve our customers. And I’m most proud that, even with this significant addition to our fleet, customer bills are lower this year than they were in 2016.”
Tampa Electric expanded the plant by about 460 megawatts, or enough electricity to power more than 100,000 homes. The expansion converted the four existing simple-cycle natural gas units to a more efficient combined-cycle unit. The project was completed on time and under budget.
The $660 million project captures the waste heat of the existing combustion turbines to increase the output of the gas-fired units by 70 percent. The project also improves transmission reliability and dramatically reduces emissions of nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide of the company’s system.
The expansion was needed to accommodate customer growth and to replace purchased-power agreements that expired.
Polk Power Station is home to several innovative projects, including one of the world’s few integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plants. In addition, the final phase of the Regional Reclaimed Water Partnership Initiative water transmission pipeline is nearly complete. The project will allow Tampa Electric to collect reclaimed water from Polk County and the cities of Lakeland and Mulberry, treat it and use it for cooling water at the Polk Power Station.
Tampa Electric, one of Florida’s largest investor-owned electric utilities, serves about 730,000 customers in West Central Florida. Tampa Electric is a subsidiary of Emera Inc., a geographically diverse energy and services company headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
