Using a STATCOM to retire urban generation

Austin Energy is a municipally owned electric utility located in Austin, Texas and is a part of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Austin Energy´s ten year energy resource plan calls for the Holly power plant to be retired by December 31, 2007. The Holly plant is being retired due to its age and reduced use, the availability of more cost effective internal generation now under construction at the Sand Hill Energy Center, the availability of excess generation in Texas, and the plant´s less than desirable location next to a residential neighborhood. The power plant has been kept in operation largely to provide voltage support in case of a contingency that causes a depression in system voltage, also known as reliability must run generation (RMR). Austin Energy searched for an innovative FACTS solution to meet both reliability and environmental requirements and selected a STATCOM solution to provide the dynamic voltage support that the power plant had provided in the past.