The rolling blackouts that plagued California in the summer of 2000 never reached Heber Light & Power (HL&P), based in Heber City, Utah. However, like most electric utilities in the western U.S., HL&P did see spikes in wholesale power prices, requiring it to run its own engine-driven generator sets far more hours than in previous years. Concern about future power reliability and price was a factor -with growing local demand - in HL&P's decision to add three new advanced gas-fueled generator sets rated at a combined 5.52 MW to its generating facility in July 2002. The Cat G3520C units from Caterpillar met HL&P's financial criteria calling for a depreciated payback period of less than two years. The generating facility now provides economical, flexible load following year-round and shields HL&P customers against the effects of wholesale power price swings.
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