The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power moved closer to phasing out coal power ahead of schedule March 19. Its board of commissioners approved a contract amendment to retrofit a coal power plant in Utah with natural gas and agreed to negotiate the sale of its interest in a coal plant in Arizona. “[T]he era of coal is over,” for LADWP, proclaimed Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The two coal plants combined supply 39 percent of the muni’s power. Former Vice President Al Gore was scheduled to visit the mayor today for a press conference formally announcing the moves. The adaption is supposed to cut the muni’s greenhouse gas emissions by 59 percent from 1990 levels. Pending the outcome of the negotiations and actions by other partners in the plants, the moves could allow LADWP to shed reliance on coal in 2025 at the 1,800 MW Intermountain Power Project in Utah. Power from the 2,250 MW Navajo Generating Station in Arizona would be terminated in 2015. State law SB 1368 requires California utilities not to renew contracts for coal power in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. LADWP’s contracts expire in 2027 at the Utah plant and 2019 at the Arizona plant. LADWP and other municipal power agencies in Southern California get most of the output from the Utah plant, according to Intermountain Power Agency spokesperson John Ward. If they want to ultimately replace it with a gas-fired plant it’s unlikely that the Utah utilities getting power from the plant will stand in the way, he noted. All of the 36 partners in the plant must amend their contracts to replace the coal plant, he explained. That process has been going on for three years and is expected to take additional time. LADWP managers told the board that there is a general consensus among utilities to replace the coal plant with a natural gas plant. After the contract amendments are completed, Ward explained, there will be a “subscription process” to determine which utilities are interested in participating in a replacement gas-fired plant, which would have a capacity between 600 and 1,200 MW. The size would depend upon the number of participants. LADWP plans to use some of the transmission capacity from the Intermountain site to bring power from the nearby 200 MW Milford Wind project to its service territory. At the Navajo plant, LADWP said it has agreed in principle with Salt River Project on general terms for selling its 21 percent interest in the facility. LADWP’s board directed the muni’s staff to negotiate the details of a sale to Salt River. The Arizona water and power agency believes that plant will produce economic value for its customers at least through 2019, said Salt River spokesperson Scott Harelson. The plant—which faces upcoming pollution control requirements—could potentially operate longer, he said, particularly with LADWP no longer involved. Salt River operates the Navajo plant, which it co-owns with LADWP, Arizona Public Service, Tucson Electric Power, Nevada Power, and the federal Bureau of Reclamation. The Bureau uses power from the plant to pump water from Hoover Dam through much of Arizona.
