Power Industry / Utility

BOYD has served over 75 electric utility clients, and we've evaluated nearly 500 coal supply or limestone supply agreements or amendments over past decades.

Our fuel supply evaluations address reliability and consistency of potential coal supply quantity, quality, price, coal supply contract terms, and transportation options. We prepare the documentation utilities need when making regulatory agency appearances, and draft, negotiate, or renegotiate coal supply contracts.

Power Industry Consultant Services

• Coal Quality
• Coal Market Projections
• Coal Supply Contract Analysis
• Coal Supply and Supplier Evaluations
• Ash Disposal Options and Costs
• Fuel Supply Evaluation and Planning Services
• Preparing Letters of Intent
  
• Contract Negotiations and Administration
• Benchmarking

Private power owners, investors, co-generators, and end users often ask us as expert consultants to develop a comprehensive fuel supply, transportation, and ash disposal strategy. As an independent mining consultant, we apply our expert and creative, technical, and business skills to provide the flexible approach. Our analyses have been used worldwide for project development and financing purposes relating to coal-fired electric generating facilities.

The John T. Boyd Annual Publication - US CoalVision leverages John T. Boyd Company’s substantial understanding of US Coal mines and markets by combining the collective insights gained from decades of mining and market experience with a flexible, databased modeling approach.

Supply issues incorporated in the analysis include: future levels of coal mine productivity, regional mining costs, new mine development and corresponding lead times, capital investment requirements for increased production capacity, reserve availability, transportation costs, and the potential for coal imports.

Coal demand issues include: environmental compliance strategies at existing coal-fired power plants, the likely impacts of energy policies, and the future requirements for new coal-fired generation capacity

Coal Quality & Coal Combustion Characteristics

As an experienced mining consultant, BOYD has designed and implemented analytical coal testing programs which evaluate washability and burning characteristics of coal.

Fuel Supply Evaluation

Utility and industrial companies and domestic and international power developers rely on BOYD's proactive approach to fuel supply issues.

We maintain a database of international coal suppliers and characteristics associated with their coal mining operations. This allows us to effectively identify fuel sources suitable for use at selected coal-fired generating units.

As an expert mining consultant, our experienced staff also performs due diligence studies of potential domestic and international coal suppliers.

Fuel Handling and Blending

In today's highly competitive energy market, companies that generate electricity must be able to operate their coal generating stations at design capacity with fuel availability whether it be coal of other fuel types.

As an experienced mining consultant, we recognize the need for energy companies to control their coal supply costs and to blend coal quality to maximize energy output and reduce operating costs.

Fuel Management

Mining consultant John T. Boyd Company (BOYD) performs coal stockpile sorting and blending studies where diverse coal supplies are characterized by coal quality, selectively stored and blended to produce a specific coal quality utilizing on-line monitors and programmable logic controls.

State-of-the-art computer modeling techniques are utilized to develop storage and blending models to optimize system performance.

A modern coal stockpile and blending system allows the power producer to procure fuels with a greater variance in quality and probably lower overall generating costs without exceeding the stack emission standards.

• Evaluation of existing coal receiving, handling, storage, and reclaim systems.
• Review of coal sampling and quality control systems at the coal storage and reclaim facilities.
• Evaluation of capital and operating costs.
• Design of coal receiving, coal handling, coal storage and coal blending facilities and procedures to improve on-line quality control.
• Computer simulation of coal supply blending to identify quality variations to the boiler.

Independent Power Projects

BOYD has extensive experience in developing long-term fuel supply plans using various ranks of coal and waste coal products (coarse and fine) as a fuel source for all types of boilers.

• Develop a coal supply plan including capital and operating costs for project financing and development.
• Develop coal exploration programs to determine the quantity and quality of potential fuel sources.
• Design coal processing plants to recover coal from the waste coal sources to improve fuel quality for use in boilers.
• Design waste coal mining and reclamation plans for waste coal fuel sources.

Example Projects Include:

• Completed a coal and limestone market study for delivery of required quantities and qualities over a 20-year contract term. Evaluated supply and demand issues, projected delivered prices for both limestone and coal, and analyzed barge and truck movements.



• Retained by a major eastern US utility to identify potential producers capable of supplying coal to its existing generating stations. Developed a bid request which was forwarded to potential supply candidates to obtain data on:
  
  
  • Reserve quantity and quality.
  • Existing and future production capacity.
  • Productivity.
  • Type of mine and equipment utilized.
  • Transport options.
  • FOB mine prices.
  
  
  
• Prepared a fuel supply study for a Pennsylvania based utility looking to re-power an existing generating station located in eastern Pennsylvania. Study looked at the availability and feasibility of supplying bituminous coal from the Pittsburgh Seam and Central Pennsylvania sources, waste anthracite coal material from eastern Pennsylvania and, petroleum coke. Study identified existing suppliers and provided estimates of available reserves within each region.



• Identified coal supply options available to a major US utility company and provided consultation on their decision regarding compliance with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. The utility developed a strategic plan to install a scrubber system at one of its generating stations. Also evaluated lime and limestone availability. Study included:
  
  
  • Developing forecasts of coal, lime, and limestone production capacity and prices.
  • Reviewing transport options to various generating stations and projecting transport rates.
  • Identifying potential coal supply and lime/limestone sources.
  • Supporting our findings before various State Public Utility Commissions
  
  
  
• Evaluated low sulfur coal sources and estimated delivered costs to a major eastern US utility company. During the course of our study, BOYD:
  
  
  • Identified regions within the US with adequate low sulfur reserves/suppliers to deliver coal for a 20-year period.
  • Evaluated transport options from the various regions and developed estimated transport costs to select generating stations.
  • Completed a price forecast for lower sulfur coal.

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