KCP&LÂ’s new coal plant behind schedule

Iatan 2 Power Plant Delay stems from construction setbacks and a blizzard, KCP&L says, pushing the 850-megawatt unit to fall service in an SEC filing and affecting rate increases in Kansas and Missouri.

KCP&L said that its coal-fired power plant being built near Weston had fallen behind schedule and could be in service two months later than had been expected.

The 850-megawatt Iatan 2 power plant had been scheduled to start testing early this year and to be providing power to customers by late summer. But the plant has encountered construction delays across the industry, and the recent blizzard and frigid weather created more problems.

"The bitterly cold weather has made it impossible to make up that time," said Chuck Caisley, a spokesman for KCP&L.

Although some of the lost time could be recovered eventually, the utility said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it now expected the power plant wouldn't be in service until fall.

KCP&L has a 73 percent stake in the power plant, including the portion acquired when Aquila was purchased by KCP&L's parent, Great Plains Energy during that period. The other partners in the power plant are Empire District Electric, Kansas Electric Power Cooperative and the Missouri Joint Municipal Utility Commission.

The delay also could push back the effective dates a couple of months for a rate increase request already filed in Kansas and another that will be filed in Missouri, amid efforts to boost peak power by 2010 for the region. It was originally predicted that those rates could go into effect in October 2010 in Kansas and the first quarter of 2011 in Missouri.

The utility also said in the SEC filing that it had begun a review of the cost of Iatan 2, and, even as a Peabody lawsuit in Wisconsin underscored project risks, it didn't expect the cost for its share of the plant to rise above the $1.15 billion to $1.2 billion it previously announced.

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