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University of Northern
Colorado
Greeley, Colorado |
Fort
Lupton
Fort Lupton, Colorado |
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Fort
Lupton
Fort Lupton, Colorado |
ConAgra
Greely,
Colorado | |
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In 1984, the Thermo Companies
first became involved in the independent energy business both
as a developer of cogeneration facilities and in the
exploration and production of natural gas. Thermo was the
developer of the $60 million 76 MW electric energy system and
steam generating plant at the University of Northern Colorado
in Greeley. The facility still supplies all of the hot water
and steam necessary to heat and cool the campus, sells
electrical energy to Xcel Energy, operates with two General
Electric LM-5000 turbines packaged by Stewart & Stevenson
and uses approximately 15 million cubic feet of natural gas
per day. Until Thermo's other power projects came on line it
was the largest single consumer of natural gas in Colorado.
The plant, financed by Prudential Insurance Company, has been
featured in national magazines as an example of public/private
partnership and energy conservation.
In 1992 Thermo
began construction of two more Colorado power projects which
cost in excess of $250 million. The 122 MW first phase of Ft.
Lupton began the commercial generation of electricity during
the second quarter of 1994. The 150 MW second phase began
operation one month later. These two facilities, operating in
tandem, consume an average of 30-40 million cubic feet of
natural gas per day, surpassing the University project as the
state's largest natural gas consumer.
Both phases of
the Ft. Lupton project are approximately twenty-five miles
north of Denver in an industrial park originally owned by
Thermo. Thermo also owned the one million square foot
greenhouse, packing, and administration facility which was
leased to the largest tomato greenhousing company in North
America. The two phases of the Ft. Lupton project utilize five
General Electric LM-6000 gas turbines also packaged by Stewart
& Stevenson. Approximately $227 million of financing was
arranged through Kidder Peabody, Prudential Insurance Company,
Fuji Bank, and Central and Southwest Corporation, a unit of
American Electric Power. Central and Southwest also purchased
an equity interest in these facilities.
In 1996 Thermo
began operations at a fourth facility. Thermo's project at the
ConAgra meatpacking facility in Greeley, Colorado is located
approximately three miles from the University of Northern
Colorado project. This project is also an LM-6000 facility
which sells electricity to Xcel Energy and thermal energy to
ConAgra.
Thermo established a partnership with Kinder
Morgan, a natural gas and petroleum liquids transportation
company with other operations in coal terminalling and carbon
dioxide transportation, to own all of the operating
cogeneration plants and to develop and construct up to ten
additional power projects. The planned facilities were to be
approximately 500 MW each and were to be designed and
constructed utilizing proprietary concepts developed by
Thermo. Orders were placed with Stewart and Stevenson's Gas
Turbine Division, now wholly owned by General Electric, for
all of the major power generation equipment. If fully
constructed, these projects would require capital of
approximately $2.5 billion. Each plant is designed with six
LM-6000 and one GE frame 7 gas turbine generators and two
steam turbine generators operating in combined cycle. The
first two projects began commercial operation. The facilities
benefit from being located on or near the Kinder Morgan gas
transmission systems, assuring adequate sources of fuel and
increased through-put across Kinder Morgan's gas transmission
network.
Through a series of
acquisitions and drilling programs in Colorado and Kansas,
Thermo and Kinder Morgan grew their local natural gas
operations to over 150 wells and approximately 563 billion
cubic feet ("Bcf") of gas reserves. Thermo's primary drilling
programs achieved greater success than historical average
results in the area. By using improved seismic techniques,
success rates increased from 75% to over 95%, this in an area
which historically averaged only 50%. Improvements in seismic
and well completion techniques also increased average well
size from .3 to .5 Bcf per location. These assets were sold in
connection with restructuring several power purchase
agreements. After the restructuring the fuel supplied to the
power plants from these gas reserves was no longer
required. | |
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