INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Duke Energy's latest filing with Indiana regulators shows the company's troubled coal-gasification plant generated less than 1 percent of its power capacity during February.
The company disclosed the southwestern Indiana plant's power generation figures in a Monday filing with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
Duke blames February's low power output on “equipment challenge'' and a decision to move up the Edwardsport plant's spring maintenance.
Company spokeswoman Angeline Protogere tells The Indianapolis Star the plant boosted its March power production to about 44 percent of its maximum capacity through gasified coal.
Environmental and citizens' groups have asked regulators to launch a formal investigation into problems and delays that have sharply limited the plant's power output.
The plant's original cost estimate was $1.9 billion, but that ballooned to about $3.5 billion.
