Price key to Indiantown, Lodestar Energy contract in 2003

摘要

A big financial boost to Lodestar Energy, last year's increase of nearly 8 dollars/ton in the price of coal moving to the Indiantown plant in Florida, could disappear in late 2003. Under a threat of getting its bankruptcy court to let it terminate this contract, Lodestar last fall got Indiantown Cogeneration LP to agree to jump the price from 26.63 dollars/ton to 34 dollars/ton That was at a time when coal prices were up, market demand was high and Indiantown was worried about finding replacement coal. But since then, the market has tanked. Lodestar ships the full requirements of the 330-MW plant, which in any given year is close to 1 million tons. That coal is out of its eastern Kentucky operations.