AECC’s New Power Plant Near Texarkana Built for Dual-Fuel Reliability

AECC’s Fitzhugh plant near Ozark. (Provided)

Designs for Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp.’s proposed new power plant near Texarkana would make it capable of burning either natural gas or diesel.

The co-op’s new converted airline engines creating power at the Fitzhugh unit near Ozark also have that option, as do the older turbines working there.

It’s an important factor in avoiding natural gas interruptions and huge price hikes during extreme winter weather, CEO Vernon “Buddy” Hasten told Whispers.

“Remember over the past several winters, some power plants couldn’t operate,” Hasten said. “It wasn’t because the plant was broken; it was because they couldn’t get natural gas.”

That sort of crisis never strikes in summer, because hot-weather demand surges happen when natural gas use hits seasonal lows. “We might be taking a high load out of natural gas out of the pipelines, but people are using a minimal amount of gas in their homes. To be honest, in summertime there are very few competitors for natural gas molecules.”

The trouble comes when it’s really cold, he said.

“Now people are heating their homes, businesses are using gas for heat, and the natural gas pipeline has no more ability to supply that load. They send us what they call a force majeure letter and they shut off our gas, and therefore that shuts off your electricity.”

To prevent that, Hasten made sure that the aero-derivative turbines he installed could switch from gas to diesel at any given time.

“I’m not saying that every aero derivative can do that, but ours are what they call dual fuel,” Hasten said. “They will burn natural gas almost exclusively all the time, but in the event of a significant weather event, when the natural gas pipeline cannot supply that plant, we will shift to burning diesel fuel.”

Having the second fuel option made a tremendous financial difference during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, which killed about 270 people in the United States.

“I’ll just share this story with you,” Hasten said. “During Winter Storm Uri, Fitzhugh’s original plant also had the capability to operate on diesel. Gas prices skyrocketed so high that we shifted to diesel at Fitzhugh.”

For five days the diesel-fueled electricity delivered 170 megawatts to co-op members, Hasten said. “That saved our members $34 million for those five days of power.”