“I am proud to announce today that we are adding a new solar facility to our renewable energy mix,” said Lisa Johnson, Seminole’s CEO and General Manager. “The Seminole solar facility and our “Cooperative Solar” approach will further demonstrate our strong commitments to our Members, to their end-use consumers, and to the environment. Seminole works to be good stewards for all three.”

Based in Tampa, Florida, Seminole is one of the largest generation and transmission cooperatives in the country. Its mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced, wholesale electric power to its nine not-for-profit, consumer-owned distribution electric cooperatives. Seminole and its Members collectively serve 1.6 million individuals and businesses in 42 Florida counties.

“The new facility will feature more than 8,400 single-axis tracking solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, which rotate to follow the movement of the sun throughout the day. This rotation will allow for approximately 20 percent more output, compared with fixed solar arrays, or panels that do not move,” said Glenn Spurlock, Seminole’s Manager of Development.

PV panels are composed of numerous PV cells made of silicon and other semiconducting materials that convert energy from sunlight into electricity. Solar projects such as Cooperative Solar are optimal for consumers who want solar power but live in a multifamily dwelling, do not have a suitable roof or installation site, or do not have the financial resources to afford the upfront costs associated with installing solar panels at their homes or businesses. Utility scale solar deployments like Seminole’s solar facility will allow more individuals to use solar power at a lower cost per consumer.

Radiance Solar, LLC, based in Atlanta, Georgia is engineering and constructing the solar project in conjunction with Seminole. According to Spurlock, “Construction will begin in the Second quarter of 2016, and the output from the solar facility is scheduled to come online before the end of this year.”

Seminole will operate, maintain, and have rights to the full output of the facility, financed with Farm Credit Leasing Services, through a net-lease agreement.

The new solar facility will be located in Hardee County at Seminole’s existing natural gas-fired power plant site. Another example of Seminole’s environmental stewardship, the facilities at Seminole’s site, soon to include solar panels, sit on abandoned phosphate mines that were remediated into a diverse and thriving 1,300-acre ecosystem.

Seminole currently provides renewable energy generated from a variety of sources, including waste-to-energy, landfill gas-to-energy, and biomass facilities. Seminole’s Cooperative Solar project will add to this diverse energy mix. “It’s an exciting time to be a part of Seminole Electric Cooperative,” Johnson said. “I believe solar energy has an important role in the future of our industry and the future of Seminole.”

Seminole’s nine member-owned distribution cooperatives are:

• Central Florida Electric Cooperative, Chiefland, FL
• Clay Electric Cooperative, Keystone Heights, FL
• Glades Electric Cooperative, Moore Haven, FL
• Peace River Electric Cooperative, Wauchula, FL
• SECO Energy, Sumterville, FL
• Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative, Live Oak, FL
• Talquin Electric Cooperative, Quincy, FL
• Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Madison, FL
• Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, Dade City, FL

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Seminole Electric is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Seminole Electric Cooperative may sell a portion of the renewable energy credits associated with its renewable generation to third parties. The third parties can use the credits to meet mandatory or voluntary renewable requirements.

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“Seminole continues to believe that the Clean Power Plan will threaten the reliability and affordability of our Member’s electricity,” said Seminole CEO Lisa Johnson. “We have challenged the Clean Power Plan in Federal Court, and asked that the enforcement of the rule be stayed, or paused, until we know that it will survive legal challenge. Seminole should not have to make the kinds of decisions that would cost our members money, or our employees their jobs, without certainty that those decisions are based on sound, legal requirements.”

Without specific fixes in the proposed federal plan for implementation, those who can afford it the least would pay the most for the negative effects of the Clean Power Plan.

Lisa continued, “Approximately one-third of Seminole’s residential customers have household incomes below the poverty level. The Seminole Generating Station, our primary power plant, employs three hundred individuals in rural Putnam County – a county that was rated by USA Today in 2015 as the poorest county in Florida. This plant, one of the cleanest coal-fired facilities in the world, does not meet the emissions rate requirements of the Clean Power Plan.”

Seminole’s comments zone in on one issue in particular, that the Clean Power Plan has the potential to turn Seminole’s primary generation facility into a stranded asset, and that as a small entity, Seminole does not have the same ability as larger utilities to absorb this loss.

“The Seminole Generating Station is financed through 2042, and it has a professionally rated useful life through 2045,” said Lisa. “The plant could close without additional compliance time or other consideration. Our Members, and their Member-Owners, would have to continue to pay for a plant that is either closed or operating at reduced capacity, while also paying for a new source of electricity. The poorest county in Florida would lose its largest property tax payer, and one of its largest employers. The rural Members and communities that we serve should not be forced to bear the brunt of the costs of this plan.”

Highlights of Seminole’s Comments:

• Seminole qualifies as a Small Business, employing less than 750 individuals, and should be given additional compliance time to cushion the plan’s cost to our Members.
• EPA should provide additional compliance time for units operated by “small entities,” units located in low-income areas, units that provide a large percentage of a county’s property taxes, or units that provide a substantial number of jobs in areas with above average levels of unemployment.
• Any state-specific federal plan needs to include a reliability safety valve to ensure that electric cooperatives do not have to choose between keeping the lights on or being fined by EPA.
• The process that EPA will use to implement a federal plan is severely flawed. Any Federal Plan should be specifically tailored to the state for which it is intended, and interested parties should have the opportunity to comment on it before it becomes final.

Seminole Electric Cooperative Comments EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0199 and EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0734 (PDF)

About Seminole

Headquartered in Tampa, Fl., Seminole’s mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced, wholesale electric power to its nine Member distribution electric cooperatives – serving approximately 1.6 million consumers and business in 42 counties. Seminole owns and operates a 1,300-MW coal-fired power plant located in Putnam County, as well as an 810-MW natural gas-fired power plant located on the Polk/Hardee County border. Seminole also purchases energy from renewable energy facilities*.

*Seminole sells a portion of the renewable energy credits associated with its renewable generation to third parties. The third parties can use the credits to meet mandatory or voluntary renewable requirements.

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“The Clean Power Plan represents a massive overreach of EPA’s regulatory authority. Today’s filing is the next step in Seminole’s strategy to protect our Member cooperatives, and consumers at the end of the line, from the rate increases required to implement the Clean Power Plan,” said Lisa Johnson, Seminole’s CEO and General Manager. “Having exhausted all other measures, including testifying at EPA listening sessions, submitting detailed public comments about the rule, testifying in front of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, testifying in front of Congress, meeting with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, and meeting with the President’s Office of Management and Budget, Seminole is pursuing one of the few remaining options to protect the affordable, reliable electrical service that our Members enjoy today.”

Based in Tampa, Florida, Seminole is one of the largest generation and transmission cooperatives in the country. Its mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced, wholesale electric power to its nine not-for-profit, consumer-owned distribution electric cooperatives. Seminole and its Members collectively serve 1.4 million individuals and businesses in 42 Florida counties, providing essential electric service in primarily rural and low income areas of Florida stretching from west of Tallahassee to south of Lake Okeechobee. Approximately one-third of Seminole’s residential customers have household incomes below the poverty level.

“Unfortunately, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars of our Members’ resources that we have spent on state-of-the-art emissions control equipment, there is no commercially viable technology that we can install at our plants to meet the emissions rate requirements of the Clean Power Plan,” Johnson continued. “Seminole’s primary generating facility, the Seminole Generating Station, is currently financed through 2042. Should the EPA ultimately require us to close this plant, our Members will continue to make payments on it, while also needing to pay for new sources of electricity. Early estimates of the proposed rule have indicated that it may raise individual electric bills in Florida by more than 25%.”

Seminole operates two primary generating facilities, the coal-fired Seminole Generating Station (SGS) located in Palatka, Florida and the natural gas-fired Midulla Generating Station (MGS) located in Bowling Green, Florida. Seminole’s power plants cannot meet the emissions rates required by the CPP on a unit by-unit basis.

“While compliance options such as buying carbon emissions credits, or interstate carbon trading, may become available in the future, they are not available today,” said Johnson. “Without protection from the court system, Seminole will need to begin making planning decisions as if our plants are going to be shut down. As a result, Seminole is asking the court to review the rule to ensure that it is legally sound before we are forced to make the kinds of decisions that could close our plants and raise our Members’ electric rates.”

The Federal Court System has shown a recent willingness to stand firm against EPA expansions of its own authority. Earlier this summer, the Supreme Court overturned EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS) rule after years of legal fighting. A federal court also recently delayed enforcement of the much maligned EPA “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, remarking that the stay “temporarily silences the whirlwind of confusion that springs from uncertainty about the requirements of the new rule and whether they will survive legal testing.”

“While we recognize that our request for a stay of the Clean Power Plan may be an up-hill battle, Seminole is hopeful that the Court’s recent trend toward tempering the EPA’s regulatory onslaught will provide our Members with some relief,” said Johnson. “We’re just trying to keep the lights on in rural Florida.”

Seminole’s nine member-owned distribution cooperatives are:

• Central Florida Electric Cooperative, Chiefland, FL
• Clay Electric Cooperative, Keystone Heights, FL
• Glades Electric Cooperative, Moore Haven, FL
• Peace River Electric Cooperative, Wauchula, FL
• SECO Energy, Sumterville, FL
• Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative, Live Oak, FL
• Talquin Electric Cooperative, Quincy, FL
• Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Madison, FL
• Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, Dade City, FL

Individuals concerned about how the Clean Power Plan will affect them should visit www.action.coop to contact their elected officials.

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“As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, we are concerned that the EPA’s Clean Power Plan could still result in a shift in Florida’s power generation, increasing electricity costs for rural electric cooperative consumers,” said Johnson. “We appreciate the EPA extending the interim goal from 2020 to 2022 and for the modifications the agency appears to have made to the Florida targets, but until we can study this lengthy, complicated rule in more detail, we will not know the full impact to Seminole or to the state.”

The EPA’s Clean Power Plan is more than 1,500 pages, in addition to many supporting technical documents. By 2030, carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector must be 32 percent below 2005 levels, based on the Clean Power Plan –a nine percent increase over the proposed rule.

In 1978, the U.S. enacted the Power plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act, which restricted new power plants from using oil or natural gas and encouraged the use of coal. Seminole’s coal-fired facility came online in 1984. The Act was not repealed until 1987. Now the EPA, through the Clean Power Plan, intends to penalize consumers who buy power from electric utilities that burn coal. Seminole’s coal-fired facility has a remaining useful life through 2045.

Premature closure of Seminole’s coal plant would place unnecessary financial burdens on approximately 1.4 million consumers and businesses throughout Florida, including rural areas that are still recovering from the recession. Seminole has invested more than $530 million in environmental upgrades on its coal facility – making it one of the cleanest coal plants in the U.S.

“We should be seeking solutions for balanced, rational energy policy that protect our environment and natural resources without harming affordable, reliable power for our not-for-profit electric cooperatives,” said Johnson. Seminole believes it makes sense to have a diverse fuel mix for power generation that includes coal, natural gas, and renewable energy.

Seminole staff will be working diligently to assess the rule’s impacts on its coal-fired facility, including future resource requirements, and will work closely with state regulators to determine the most acceptable path forward regarding compliance.

About Seminole

Headquartered in Tampa, Fl., Seminole’s mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced, wholesale electric power to its nine Member distribution electric cooperatives – serving approximately 1.4 million consumers and business in 42 counties. Seminole owns and operates a 1,300-MW coal-fired power plant located in Putnam County, as well as an 810-MW natural gas-fired power plant located on the Polk/Hardee County border. Seminole also purchases energy from renewable energy facilities* .

* Seminole sells a portion of the renewable energy credits associated with its renewable generation to third parties. The third parties can use the credits to meet mandatory or voluntary renewable requirements.

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During the hearing, entitled “EPA’s Proposed 111(d) Rule for Existing Power Plants, and H.R. __, the Ratepayer Protection Act,” Johnson shared the electric cooperative perspective. “While everyone can agree on the importance of responsible environmental stewardship, regulations that would eliminate whole industries, drastically raise electric rates, and call into question the reliability of our nation’s transmission grid are excessive and unnecessary,” said Johnson.

“The Ratepayer Protection Act would delay the Clean Power Plan to ensure that it survives legal challenge before taking effect, and provide states like Florida with an important safety valve for consumers and for the reliability of the grid,” Johnson continued.

In June 2014, the EPA published the proposed Clean Power Plan – a rule aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired power plants, including coal and natural gas-fired facilities. Specifically, the EPA proposes to reduce power sector carbon emissions 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. However, for Florida, the EPA is proposing that the state reduce its carbon emissions by 38 percent, which is greater than the national goal. Based on the EPA’s methodology for carbon reduction, Florida will have to close more than 90 percent of its coal-fired power generation by 2020 in order to meet the EPA’s goal.

Seminole is extremely concerned about the EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan, as more than 50 percent of the energy its Members needed came from coal in 2014. In 1978, the U.S. enacted the Power plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act, which restricted new power plants from using oil or natural gas for power generation and encouraged the use of coal. Seminole’s coal-fired facility came online in 1984. The Act was not repealed until 1987. Seminole built coal because it did not have another economic option. As such, Seminole and its not-for-profit Member electric cooperatives should not be penalized.

One of Seminole’s highest priorities is to ensure that all generating resources are operated in an environmentally-responsible manner. Seminole has invested more than $530 million in environmental control technology and recycling practices. As a result of these investments, Seminole’s coal-fired generating facility is one of the cleanest power plants in the country.

The EPA should consider these expensive and extensive environmental controls installed in order to comply with other regulations implemented by the EPA. Otherwise, should the EPA’s rule be finalized, these costly investments will become stranded assets. Additionally, Seminole would have to build or purchase new power generation to replace the electricity produced from its coal-fired facility. Such a drastic and sudden shift in Seminole’s power portfolio will not only drive up the cost of electricity for our not-for-profit, Member cooperatives, but it could have sweeping unintended consequences to a fragile, but recovering workforce and economy in Florida.

“The Clean Power Plan has failed to recognize the economic impacts it would have on Seminole, our employees, our Member cooperatives, and the communities that we support,” Johnson concluded. “As such, Seminole supports ‘The Ratepayer Protection Act,’ and urges this Committee to continue its work to protect consumers.”

About Seminole

Seminole Electric Cooperative is one of the largest generation and transmission cooperatives in the country. Its mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced, wholesale electric power to its nine, not-for-profit, consumer-owned distribution electric cooperatives.

Approximately 1.4 million people and businesses in parts of 42 Florida counties rely on Seminole Member cooperatives for electricity. Seminole’s primary resources include the Seminole Generating Station (SGS) in northeast Florida and the Richard J. Midulla Generating Station (MGS) in south central Florida.

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Seminole’s RFP provides for the following options: Option 1) a 2 MWAC EPC to be installed at the Midulla Generating Station (MGS) and be in commercial operation on or before November 2, 2016; or Option 2) a 2 MWAC Florida-based PPA to be in commercial operation on or before November 2, 2016.

A copy of the RFP can be found on Seminole’s website at /suppliers/.

There is a mandatory “Pre-Bid” meeting for all EPC respondents (optional for PPA respondents) at MGS, located at 6697 County Road 663, Bowling Green, Florida 33834 at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, 2015.

In order to submit a response to the RFP, potential bidders shall complete and return the Bidders Qualification Questionnaire (BQQ) no later than 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 14, 2015. The BQQ is “Attachment 10” within the RFP.

Responses to the RFP are due no later than 2:00 p.m., Friday, May 8, 2015. The RFP responses will be opened privately. Late RFP responses, regardless of reason, will not be accepted. All respondents to the RFP will be contacted after bid opening.

All questions throughout the RFP bid phase with respect to the bid process, bid document, requests for technical or commercial clarifications, and/or requests for additional information shall be submitted to Seminole via email at SolarRFP@seminole-electric.com.

This RFP will continue to advance Seminole’s renewable energy resource development in the state of Florida.

About Seminole

Seminole Electric Cooperative is one of the largest generation and transmission cooperatives in the country. Its mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced, wholesale electric power to its nine Member distribution electric cooperatives. Approximately 1.4 million people and businesses in parts of 42 Florida counties rely on Seminole Member cooperatives for electricity. Seminole’s primary resources include the Seminole Generating Station in northeast Florida and the Richard J. Midulla Generating Station in south central Florida.

Seminole also owns and maintains more than 350 miles of transmission line that connect its generating facilities to Florida’s transmission grid. Seminole supplements its own generation with power purchased from other utilities, independent power producers and government entities. Seminole’s portfolio reflects a mix of technologies and fuel types, including purchases from renewable resources*.

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*Seminole Electric Cooperative sells a portion of the renewable energy credits associated with its renewable generation to third parties. The third parties can use the credits to meet mandatory or voluntary renewable requirements.

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Hart is the secretary of the Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative Board of Directors. He has served on the SVEC Board since 1989 and has served on the Seminole Board since February 2000.

“We know we will be facing some upcoming challenges as our industry continues to take on a new shape,” Hart said during his opening remarks as the new president. “Seminole is and will continue to be prepared to handle what comes its way with regard to power supply,” he concluded.

About Seminole

Seminole Electric Cooperative is one of the largest generation and transmission cooperatives in the country. Its mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced, wholesale electric power to its nine Member distribution electric cooperatives.

Approximately 1.4 million people and businesses in parts of 42 Florida counties rely on Seminole Member cooperatives for electricity. Seminole’s primary resources include the Seminole Generating Station in northeast Florida and the Richard J. Midulla Generating Station in south central Florida.

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During the hearing, entitled “EPA’s 2014 Final Rule: Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals from Electric Utilities,” Johnson shared the electric cooperative perspective and asked for legislative certainty from the Committee.

“Seminole would like to acknowledge that we support the EPA’s decision to designate coal combustion residuals as non-hazardous. The EPA’s approach, supported by data from its own investigations, appropriately balances the need to protect public health and the environment without creating an undue burden on affected facilities,” said Johnson. “Even with a nonhazardous final rule, however, we are seeking your support to provide legislative certainty.”

Coal combustion residuals (CCRs), commonly referred to as coal ash, are materials produced when coal is burned to generate electricity. The EPA issued a final rule on December 19, 2014.

While the EPA will now regulate CCRs as a non-hazardous waste under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), there are areas of the final rule that could be improved through legislative action to ensure electricity remains safe, affordable and reliable, especially for electric cooperative consumers.

For example, the final rule lacks certainty that CCRs will continue to be regulated as nonhazardous. On numerous occasions, the EPA has determined that CCRs are not hazardous – and there are no new findings to justify a change in EPA’s determination.

“We ask that you end the continuous reevaluation process and confirm that CCRs are, and will continue to be, regulated as non-hazardous,” Johnson asked of the Committee.

Seminole owns and operates a 1,300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Putnam County, FL, employing nearly 300 hard-working, skilled Floridians. Seminole’s coal plant generates approximately 800,000 tons of CCRs per year. However, Seminole recycles more than two-thirds, or roughly 550,000 tons, per year of CCRs to produce wallboard, cement, and concrete block.

“Should the EPA decide to regulate CCRs as hazardous at a later time, the cooperative would be forced to dispose of CCRs as a hazardous waste – turning a beneficially used product into an expensive, landfilled waste stream. Without a doubt, this would adversely affect the cost of electricity for our not-for-profit cooperative consumers,” said Johnson.

Seminole has received a Sustainable Leadership Award from the Council for Sustainable Florida for its beneficial reuse of CCRs, and Seminole’s coal-based power plant was named one of the top six coal plants in the world by Power Magazine for its recycling practices and environmental accomplishments.

About Seminole

Seminole Electric Cooperative is one of the largest generation and transmission cooperatives in the country. Its mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced, wholesale electric power to its nine, not-for-profit, consumer-owned distribution electric cooperatives.

Approximately 1.4 million people and businesses in parts of 42 Florida counties rely on Seminole Member cooperatives for electricity. Seminole’s primary resources include the Seminole Generating Station (SGS) in northeast Florida and the Richard J. Midulla Generating Station (MGS) in south central Florida.

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Tampa, Fla. – Seminole Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Seminole) submitted comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) addressing a proposed regulation that could increase the cost of electricity and jeopardize reliability. Based on the EPA’s rule making, Florida will have to close more than 90 percent of its coal-fired power plants by 2020 – which is neither feasible nor achievable. This regulation, referred to as the “Clean Power Plan,” targets coal-fired power plants, thereby targeting the pocketbooks of rural electric cooperative consumers.

“The EPA’s rule making, if implemented as proposed, will result in a drastic and sudden shift in Florida’s power generation, which will not only drive up the cost of electricity, but will have sweeping unintended consequences to a fragile, but recovering workforce and economy,” said Seminole’s CEO Lisa Johnson. “The EPA must reassess its proposal and correct flaws in the rule making to protect affordable and reliable electricity.”

Specifically, the EPA is proposing that Florida reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing electric generating units by 38 percent, which is greater than the national goal of 30 percent. However, the EPA’s calculations for Florida do not account for an approximate 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions that have already occurred in the state since 2005.

In addition to prematurely closing coal-fired power generation by more than 90 percent, the EPA’s plan anticipates a heavy dependence on natural gas in Florida. Based on the rule, natural gas would produce more than 85 percent of Florida’s electricity by 2025, and coal would produce less than 2 percent. Currently, Florida has limited access to natural gas, with only two major pipelines in the state. Significant investments would have to be made to build more gas pipelines in order to generate that much electricity from natural gas.

Seminole believes it makes good sense to have a diverse fuel mix for power generation that includes coal, natural gas, and renewable energy. In 2014, Seminole will generate more than 50 percent of the energy its cooperatives need from its coal-fired power plant – which will be shuttered 20 years before the end of its useful life based on the EPA’s proposed rule. Seminole also owns and operates a natural gas-fired power plant and purchases power from renewable energy resources.

Seminole’s decision to build a coal plant was no coincidence. In 1978, the U.S. enacted the Power plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act, which restricted new power plants from using oil or natural gas and encouraged the use of coal. Seminole’s coal-fired facility came online in 1984. The Act was not repealed until 1987. Now the EPA proposes to penalize consumers who buy power from electric utilities that burn coal – hurting millions of consumers and businesses in Florida and across the country.

Seminole has invested more than $530 million in state-of-the-art environmental control equipment and recycling practices at its coal plant in order to comply with other regulations implemented by the EPA. These investments will become stranded should the EPA’s rule be finalized, and replacement power generation would have to be built. Nearly 300 hard-working, skilled employees work at Seminole’s coal plant. If the power station is forced to close early, these 300 employees will be left without a job – and this does not include the hundreds of contractor personnel that would be impacted in a rural county working to rebound in the slowly-recovering economy.

“We should be seeking solutions for balanced, rational energy and environmental policy that protects our natural resources without harming the affordability, reliability, or the sufficiency of electricity,” said Johnson. A final rule is set to be issued by the EPA in June 2015.

About Seminole

Headquartered in Tampa, Fl., Seminole’s mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced, wholesale electric power to its nine Member distribution electric cooperatives – serving approximately 1.4 million consumers and business in 42 counties. Seminole owns and operates a 1,300-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant located in Putnam County, as well as an 810-MW natural gas-fired power plant located on the Polk/Hardee County border. Seminole also purchases energy from renewable energy facilities* .

* Seminole sells a portion of the renewable energy credits associated with its renewable generation to third parties. The third parties can use the credits to meet mandatory or voluntary renewable requirements.

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Tampa, Fla – Seminole Electric Cooperative (Seminole) is extremely concerned about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. On June 2, 2014, the EPA unveiled its “Clean Power Plan” aimed at reducing “power sector carbon emissions 30% below 2005 levels by 2030.” Seminole is one of the largest, not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperatives in the country providing reliable, competitively priced, wholesale electric power to its nine Member distribution electric cooperatives.

The EPA’s Clean Power Plan, through an overly broad, state-based approach, takes aim at coal-fired power generation, and specifically identifies areas where coal-fired power plants can be displaced. This is significant for Seminole and its Member distribution electric cooperatives, as Seminole will generate nearly 60 percent of the energy its Members need from coal in 2014. Seminole strives to keep electric bills stable and affordable while providing Members the power they need to improve their quality of life. However, the EPA’s proposal targets coal-fired power plants, thereby targeting the pocketbooks of cooperative consumers.

Seminole’s decision to build a coal plant was no coincidence. In 1978, the U.S. enacted the Power plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act, which restricted new power plants from using oil or natural gas for power generation and encouraged the use of coal. Seminole’s coal-fired facility came online in 1984. The Act was not repealed until 1987. Now the EPA proposes to penalize consumers who buy power from electric utilities that burn coal – hurting millions of consumers and businesses in Florida and across the country.

One of Seminole’s highest priorities is that all generating resources are operated in an environmentally responsible manner. Seminole has invested more than $530 million in environmental control technology and recycling practices, making its coal-fired generating facility one of the cleanest power plants in the country. To reduce emissions and as part of Seminole’s commitment to our communities – approximately 70 percent of the byproducts produced when coal is burned to generate electricity are recycled for use in products consumers use every day, including wallboard and concrete. Seminole believes it makes good business sense to have a diversified generation portfolio. In addition to its coal-based generation, Seminole also generates electricity from natural gas and has one of Florida’s largest renewable portfolios. Fuel diversity reduces exposure to changing market conditions and helps keep rates competitive. Limiting fuel resources for power generation, like coal, and displacing existing coal-fired power plants, as proposed by the EPA, will lead to increased costs for consumers.

Seminole will be thoroughly evaluating the EPA’s proposed rule and its potential impacts to its generation facilities. As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, any increases in the costs for power generation will be passed on to cooperative consumers. Seminole will join with electric cooperatives from around the country to fight for rational energy and environmental policy that does not harm the affordability, reliability, or sufficiency of electric supply to its Members.

About Seminole

Seminole’s mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced, wholesale electric power to its nine Member distribution electric cooperatives. Seminole owns and operates a 1,300-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant located in Putnam County, as well as an 810-MW natural gas-fired power plant located on the Polk/Hardee County border. Seminole also purchases energy from renewable energy facilities. Collectively, those contracted resources will provide nearly 7 percent of Seminole’s Member sales in 2014 – one of the largest renewable energy portfolios in the state. Approximately 1.4 million people and businesses in parts of 42 Florida counties rely on Seminole’s Member distribution cooperatives for electricity.

Nationally, electric cooperatives serve an average of 7.4 consumers per mile of line, whereas investor-owned utilities average 34 customers per mile and publicly-owned utilities, or municipals, average 48 consumers per mile. Seminole’s Member distribution cooperatives serve an average of 14 members per mile of line – although this number varies considerably across the state depending on growth and location. This is significant as it means electric cooperatives have a fewer number of consumers to spread their costs.

For more information, please visit www.seminole-electric.com, www.action.coop, or www.tellEPA.com.

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