Painesville considers proposal to assume shares of Fremont power plant
Dec. 14—Painesville City Council will consider a proposal to assume shares of a power plant in Fremont, Ohio, which Electric Superintendent Jeff McHugh said will support the city's intermediate power needs as its coal plant shows signs of aging.
The potential agreement would see Painesville assume a 5.7 megawatt share in the American Municipal Power Fremont Energy Center. Council held a first reading for legislation authorizing the agreement on Dec. 2, with the second reading scheduled for its next meeting on Dec. 19.
Under the terms of the proposal, the 5.7 megawatt share will come from Hamilton, Ohio. McHugh informed council that the southwest Ohio city is looking to divest its shares because it is purchasing more power than it needs.
The proposal follows signs that the boilers at Painesville's coal plant are starting to age and recommendations from consultants, McHugh told The News-Herald.
"Boilers this old tend to act up and they have issues," he explained, noting that the boilers had not displayed these issues in previous years.
"We always thought, 'We have this much more time,' " McHugh said, adding, "This summer, the boilers said, 'You don't have as much time as you think.' "
The city's Electric Division also received feedback earlier this year from consultants SSOE, Sawvel and Associates and AMP, he said. One of the recommendations was to acquire more intermediate power.
McHugh noted that the additional intermediate power will come from the Fremont center, which runs on natural gas. As he previously told The News-Herald, while baseload power is used on a constant basis and peaking power is required when energy use is at its highest, intermediate power is the level in the middle.
The city will not pay to acquire Hamilton's shares, he added, though it will be committed to purchasing 5.7 megawatts from the plant as long as it owns the shares. Painesville's Electric Division generally averages around 30-35 megawatts per day, though that number can vary from day to day.
He noted that the cost of energy from the Fremont plant is below market value. Additionally, intermediate power from the Fremont center should allow the Electric Division to lower the amount of peak energy it needs to purchase.
The plant opened in 2012 and is expected to last 30-35 years, McHugh said.
If the agreement is approved, the Fremont plant will join two AMP plants in Painesville's portfolio. One is the Prairie State Energy Campus in Illinois, which McHugh called "the largest, cleanest coal plant that's been built in the last 10 years," while the other is a hydroelectric plant located along the Ohio River. The two plans produce 15 megawatts of baseload power for the city.
Painesville City Council will hold its next meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 19 in Courtroom 1 of City Hall, 7 Richmond St. McHugh will provide additional information regarding the plant and agreement.
If the legislation does not get a vote at that time, it will go to third reading.
