The three-unit, 2,250 megawatt coal-fired Navajo generating station in northern Arizona will continue to operate through 2019. Navajo Nation leaders approved a lease with the plant's owners on June 26. The owners planned to sign the deal within days.
The Navajo Station is the largest coal-fired power plant in the western United States. The Navajo Council voted 18-4 to approve the replacement lease and related agreements.
The power plant is located on reservation land in the Four Corners area of Arizona. Without the agreement extending its life, the plant’s utility owners led by Salt River Project (SRP) said they would cease operations in July and start decommissioning activities. Under the new lease, retirement will now begin after 2019.
The owners decided in February to end their participation in the power plant when the current lease term ends in 2019 after it became clear that current and forecasted low natural gas prices had made coal generation uneconomical.
Earlier this year, the power plant owners decided to extend operations of the coal-fired plant through the end of its current lease in 2019, rather than close it in July, provided the necessary agreements could be reached with the Navajo Nation to allow decommissioning activities to take place after 2019.
SRP says that "some work remains to address certain language included in amendments approved by the Navajo Council." The owners said they were hopeful this can be resolved with the Nation by July 1 and that the plant will continue operating until the end of the current lease on Dec. 23, 2019.
The 35-year replacement lease includes $110 million in lease payments, minimum fuel purchase revenues assurances for the Navajo Nation of $39 million in 2018 and 2019, and use of transmission from the plant's transmission station to sites off the reservation.
Under the replacement lease, the plant owners also agreed that the Navajo Nation could retain additional assets including additional commercial buildings, a railroad, and a lake pump system. The savings for not decommissioning these assets has been shared with the Nation and is more than $18 million, SRP says.
The plant's boilers burn low-sulfur bituminous coal from Peabody Western Coal Co.'s Kayenta Mine located 78 miles to the southeast. Coal is transported via a dedicated electric train. Plant construction began in 1969. The first unit began producing electricity in 1974. Commercial operation of the other units began in 1975 and 1976.
Electrostatic precipitators capture 99% of the fly ash, which is recycled for use in concrete, cement and other construction materials. Limestone scrubbers remove over 95% of SO2 emissions. Low NOx burners and separated overfire air technology reduce NOx emissions by approximately 40%.
Participants in the Navajo power plant include SRP, the plant’s operator; the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Arizona Public Service Co.; Tucson Electric Power Co.; and NV Energy.
The new lease could preserve more than 800 jobs at the power plant and coal mine that supplies it, Jared Touchin, a tribal council spokesman, was quoted as saying. The tribe’s leaders have been working with federal and state officials to try to find a new owner that could operate the plant beyond 2019.
To make the plant a more attractive asset, a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission has proposed that the U.S. Interior Department, which has a 24% stake in the plant, subsidize half of its maintenance costs.
To contact the author of this article, email david.wagman@ieeeglobalspec.com
Author : Internet From : globalspec Release times : 2018.03.18
Views : 1382
The three-unit, 2,250 megawatt coal-fired Navajo generating station in northern Arizona will continue to operate through 2019. Navajo Nation leaders approved a lease with the plant's owners on June 26. The owners planned to sign the deal within days.
The Navajo Station is the largest coal-fired power plant in the western United States. The Navajo Council voted 18-4 to approve the replacement lease and related agreements.
The power plant is located on reservation land in the Four Corners area of Arizona. Without the agreement extending its life, the plant’s utility owners led by Salt River Project (SRP) said they would cease operations in July and start decommissioning activities. Under the new lease, retirement will now begin after 2019.
The owners decided in February to end their participation in the power plant when the current lease term ends in 2019 after it became clear that current and forecasted low natural gas prices had made coal generation uneconomical.
Earlier this year, the power plant owners decided to extend operations of the coal-fired plant through the end of its current lease in 2019, rather than close it in July, provided the necessary agreements could be reached with the Navajo Nation to allow decommissioning activities to take place after 2019.
SRP says that "some work remains to address certain language included in amendments approved by the Navajo Council." The owners said they were hopeful this can be resolved with the Nation by July 1 and that the plant will continue operating until the end of the current lease on Dec. 23, 2019.
The 35-year replacement lease includes $110 million in lease payments, minimum fuel purchase revenues assurances for the Navajo Nation of $39 million in 2018 and 2019, and use of transmission from the plant's transmission station to sites off the reservation.
Under the replacement lease, the plant owners also agreed that the Navajo Nation could retain additional assets including additional commercial buildings, a railroad, and a lake pump system. The savings for not decommissioning these assets has been shared with the Nation and is more than $18 million, SRP says.
The plant's boilers burn low-sulfur bituminous coal from Peabody Western Coal Co.'s Kayenta Mine located 78 miles to the southeast. Coal is transported via a dedicated electric train. Plant construction began in 1969. The first unit began producing electricity in 1974. Commercial operation of the other units began in 1975 and 1976.
Electrostatic precipitators capture 99% of the fly ash, which is recycled for use in concrete, cement and other construction materials. Limestone scrubbers remove over 95% of SO2 emissions. Low NOx burners and separated overfire air technology reduce NOx emissions by approximately 40%.
Participants in the Navajo power plant include SRP, the plant’s operator; the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Arizona Public Service Co.; Tucson Electric Power Co.; and NV Energy.
The new lease could preserve more than 800 jobs at the power plant and coal mine that supplies it, Jared Touchin, a tribal council spokesman, was quoted as saying. The tribe’s leaders have been working with federal and state officials to try to find a new owner that could operate the plant beyond 2019.
To make the plant a more attractive asset, a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission has proposed that the U.S. Interior Department, which has a 24% stake in the plant, subsidize half of its maintenance costs.
To contact the author of this article, email david.wagman@ieeeglobalspec.com
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