Salt River Project (SRP) is seeking a new ownership group and wants to increase its stake in the currently closed Mohave Generating Station as part of its efforts to reopen the power plant near Laughlin, Nev., perhaps by 2011. The utility, which provides power to almost 900,000 customers and already owns 20 percent of Mohave, says returning the 1,580 MW plant to service will provide energy for its growing service territory. SRP has launched a competitive process, which will not be limited to utilities, to solicit potential new ownership interest. SRP says it would be willing to potentially increase its ownership share in Mohave to as much as 50 percent.
Southern California Edison (SCE) had operated Mohave since it first went into service in 1971. But for decades, Mohave has been blamed for some of the pollution obscuring views in the Grand Canyon. Environmental groups sued under the Clean Air Act to force the plant to add modern pollution controls. In 1999 SCE agreed either to make the emissions upgrades upgrades by January 1, 2006, or shut the plant.
Edison closed the plant last January, saying emission upgrades-scrubbers to control SO2, new NOX controls and bag houses for particulate control-had not been made. The upgrades were estimated to cost about $720 million in 2002, a figure that likely would be substantially higher today.
 The 1,580 MW Mohave plant, which SRP hopes to restart by 2011. Photo courtesy of Southern California Edison. |
A restart would likely be complicated involving far more issues than most coal plants typically have to deal with. Major factors that delayed the emissions upgrades at Mohave centered around uncertainties related to coal and water supply. Coal for the plant came from Peabody Western’s Black Mesa Mine on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona. The coal was transported from the mine to the plant via a 273-mile slurry pipeline, which consumed about 1 billion gallons of water annually. Members of the Navajo and Hopi tribes questioned whether water used in the slurry was causing groundwater depletion. A study is underway to find a more plentiful source of water for the pipeline. Further complicating matters are ongoing coal royalty disputes between the two tribes.
SRP is working with the Office of Surface Mining to resolve issues for completing an environmental assessment of Peabody’s plans to rebuild portions of the slurry pipeline, which is nearing the end of its useful life. Portions of the pipeline will also be rerouted to accommodate projected population growth in the Kingman, Ariz., area. The environmental assessment will also examine the utility’s proposal to develop new wells in the Coconino Aquifer and build a 108-mile-long pipeline to bring water to the mine for use in the slurry. Estimated cost for the wells and pipeline would be $200 million. The entire cost of pollution-control upgrades, a new water supply and pipeline additions and upgrades is currently projected to be well in excess of $1 billion.
SRP hopes to publish a final environmental impact statement covering the needed upgrades by next summer, which would allow the completion of work needed for restarting Mohave in the 2010-2011 timeframe.
- Steve Blankinship