Cholla Power Plant

Coal power plant in Navajo County, Arizona

34°56′25″N 110°18′01″W / 34.94028°N 110.30028°W / 34.94028; -110.30028StatusOperationalCommission dateUnit 1: 1962
Unit 2: 1978
Unit 3: 1980
Unit 4: 1981Decommission dateUnit 2: 2016
Unit 4: 2020Owner(s)Units 1–3: Arizona Public Service
Unit 4: PacifiCorpThermal power station Primary fuelSubbituminous coalTurbine technologySteam turbineCooling sourceArtificial Cholla LakePower generationNameplate capacity1,021 MWExternal linksCommonsRelated media on Commons

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The Cholla Power Plant is a 1.02-gigawatt (1,021 MW), coal power plant near Joseph City, Arizona, United States. The plant is jointly owned by Arizona Public Service (APS) and PacifiCorp. The plant began operations in 1962.

History

The coal burned at the plant came mostly from the McKinley Mine, located east of Window Rock, Arizona in New Mexico, until the mine was closed in 2009 after its reserves being leased were exhausted.^[1] In 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notified Cholla that pollution controls were needed for Units 2 through 4.^[2] Unit 2 was retired in 2016 as the cost to add pollution controls outweighed the benefits. The remaining units were to be either retired or converted to burn another fuel source by 2025.^[3] In January 2020, it was announced that PacifiCorp would close unit 4 by the end of the year. APS announced that while a conversion to natural gas had been an option, it was no longer being considered. A proposal was put forth to convert a unit to burn biomass, however regulators at the Arizona Corporation Commission voted down that plan in 2019.^[4]

Units

The plant currently consists of the following units:^[5]

Unit	Nameplate capacity (MWe)	Commissioning	Notes
1	113.6	1962	Retirement scheduled for 2025
2	288.9	1978	Retired April 2016
3	312.3	1980	Retirement scheduled for 2025
4	414	1981	Retired December 24th, 2020^[6]

References

^ Donovan, Bill (September 24, 2009). "McKinley Mine to cease operations in December". Navajo Times. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
^ Randazzo, Ryan (October 13, 2014). "Plan emerges for fourth unit at Cholla Power Plant". Arizona Republic. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
^ Randazzo, Ryan (April 2, 2019). "APS will try to switch coal power plant to burn wood from forest thinning, possibly cutting wildfire risk". Arizona Republic. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
^ Randazzo, Ryan (January 7, 2020). "Arizona coal generator to close in 2020, while another given lifeline as decline of plants across West continues". Arizona Republic. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
^ "Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2006" (Excel). Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy. 2006. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
^ Parsons, L (1 January 2021). "Cholla's PacifiCorp Unit 4 goes offline – The Tribune". The Tribune. Retrieved 14 February 2023.