CPS staff recommending nuclear option - South Florida Business Journal:

gorbunovabowiper.blogspot.com
The cost of expandintg STP to include twoadditional reactors, each capable of generating 1,35p megawatts of electricity, would run somewhere between $10 billion and $13 according to CPS Energy interim General Manager Stevew Bartley. “Any route we take will be expensive and will requirdbill increases,” Bartley says. “We believe all methodsx of producing electricity will cost more as timegoes on, so we are lookinfg for the best way to slow cost escalation as much as possibled and retain Greater San Antonio’s position as having the lowest energy bills among the nation’s 20 larges t cities.
” Bartley says it is better to pay some of that cost soonetr to avoid having to pay much more in the long term. The stafgf recommendation followsa three-year, detailedr study of CPS’ various energy options. Now the CPS Boarcd will conducta summer-lon g public education and inpugt process before making a final decisio n on pursuing the recommendation in If approved, the proposal coulxd go before the City Council for final consideratiobn in October. CPS Energy CEO Milton Lee says despite laudabls effortsat conservation, San Antonio will experiencd a shortfall in electrical generatio by 2020 unless new sourcesx of energy are tapped.
“We’vr carefully examined many scenarios involvingnaturakl gas, coal, nuclear and even purchased powerd from the Texas grid to providse our community with a large-scale, long-term, cost-competitivd source of electricity,” Lee says. “We’ve concludexd that expansion of STP has the highes t probability of accomplishing thatimportant goal.” CPS Energ is the nation’s largest municipally owned energy company providing both natural gas and electridc service. Acquired by the City of San Antonioin 1942, the company serves approximately 700,000 electric customers and almosty 320,000 natural gas customers in and around America’s seventh-largesg city.