Project: Commonwealth Chesapeake Project
Location: Accomack County, Virginia

Overview:

When Tampa Electric Company began divesting various generating assets, it opened the door for Tenaska to enter the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) market and to acquire (at competitive cost) and operate a generating facility. The Commonwealth Chesapeake Project, originally developed by Tampa Electric, is located in Accomack County, Virginia, on the Delmarva Peninsula.

The project, a 315-megawatt (MW) simple-cycle facility, consisting of seven General Electric combustion turbine generator sets fired with number 2 fuel oil, began its initial commercial operation in September 2000.The facility provides much-needed transmission system support on the Delmarva Peninsula and provides generation energy into the PJM Interconnection.

Under Tampa Electric’s ownership, the project did not have contracted generation, operating instead under dispatched market conditions. Tenaska remedied that by successfully contracting a tolling agreement for the project’s output with Conectiv, and in the process, effectively enhanced the project’s financing arrangements. Tenaska asked E3 for help in analyzing the proposed acquisition.

E3 Services Provided:

• Comprehensive due diligence services related to the successful acquisition and financing of the above facility

• Condition assessment of the project’s equipment along with a review of the project’s operating history, commercial arrangements, environmental aspects, and financial model

Project Spotlights:

• During the course of the due diligence a compressor was damaged by a foreign metal object.  E3’s power engineering experts witnessed the compressor repair by General Electric as part of the scope of work. 
  
• The comprehensive due diligence work was successfully conducted within an accelerated timeframe.