Tampa Electric saw its coal burn decrease to a three-month low 56,778 st in July, down from 68,443 st in June and the lowest since 36,085 st in April, according to a regulatory filing published Tuesday.
The utility's monthly burn at its Big Bend coal-fired power plant in Apollo Beach, Florida, was down 15% from 67,130 st estimated to be burned in July, and was also lower than 159,839 st burned in the year-ago month, according to the filing published by the Florida Public Service Commission.
Coal's generation mix was at 6.4%, or 113,902 MWh, in July, down from 18%, or 345,617 MWh, in the year-ago month. In June, the utility generated 150,660 MWh of power from coal, which made up 8.4% of the generation mix.
Since January, coal's generation mix has averaged 6.9%, down from 9.3% estimated for the period and 21.8% in the first seven months of 2018.
Natural gas' mix was at 89.9%, or 1.6 million MWh, in July, up from 87.9% in June and 81.7% in the year-ago month.
In the first seven months of the year, Tampa Electric burned 365,339 st of coal, down from 511,520 st expected and 1.13 million st burned in the same period a year ago.
In July, Tampa Electric's average fuel cost for coal was $76.25/st, down from $77.09/st in June and $77.58/st in the year-ago month.
On an MMBtu basis, coal averaged $3.30/MMBtu in July, down from $3.35/MMBtu in June, but up from $3.24/MMBtu in the year-ago month, while gas averaged $3.20/MMBtu in July, $3.44/MMBtu in June and $3.94/MMBtu a year ago.
Heat rate efficiency for coal in July was at 11,512 Btu/KWh, while gas was at 7,850 Btu/KWh, resulting in dispatch prices of roughly $37.99/MWh and $25.12/MWh, respectively. In June, coal's dispatch price was $35.02/MWh and gas was $26.73/MWh, while in the year-ago month, coal was at $35.83/MWh and gas was at $30.39/MWh.
Average dispatch price for coal in the first seven months of 2019 is at $37.12/MWh, while gas is at $28.48/MWh, compared with $36.48/MWh and $30.30/MWh in the year-ago month, respectively.
COAL PURCHASES
Tampa Electric purchased 79,212 st of coal in July at an average price of $65.38/st, compared with 34,185 st at $87.09/st in June and 163,314 st at $76.87/st in the year-ago month.
Through July, the utility has purchased 358,800 st of coal, down from 1.09 million st bought in the same period a year ago.
At the end of July, Tampa Electric's coal stockpile was at 346,266 st, or 164 days cover, down from 323,832 st, or 151 days, after June, and 379,384 st, or 59 days, at the end of July 2018.
In 2018, 862,274 st of 11,733 Btu/lb coal was delivered to the Big Bend station at an average fuel cost of $76.15/st, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration. Over 657,000 st of the coal came from Murray Energy's Genesis mine (formerly the Kronos mine), while Warrior Coal supplied over 110,000 st.
