Platte River Power Authority’s Rawhide Energy Station Unit 1 has been rated the best-utilized U.S. coal-fired power plant by Electric Light & Power (EL&P) magazine. The exceptional performance of Platte River's largest and lowest-cost generation resource helps keep electric bills low in the communities that own Platte River – Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont, and Loveland, Colorado.
According to EL&P, Rawhide's 2013 capacity factor was 95.9 percent, highest in the nation. The average 12-month capacity factor for all 708 U.S. coal-fired power plants in the analysis was 57.6 percent. Outstanding capacity factor is a result of high reliability and low operational costs. It's calculated as the ratio of the actual output of the plant over a period of time to its output if it had operated at full capacity over the same period of time.
"Continued investments in capital infrastructure combined with a proactive maintenance program and a highly skilled and dedicated workforce, have made Rawhide one of the most reliable and cost effective power plants in the country," said Platte River Power Authority General Manager & CEO, Jackie Sargent.
The full EL&P article on power plant operating performance can be found at http://www.elp.com/articles/print/volume-92/issue-6/sections/industry-report/2013-operating-performance.html?cmpid=ELPWeeklyDecember232014.