The Cholla Power Plant is a 1.02-gigawatt (1,021 MW),

coal power plant A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide, there are about 8,500 coal-fired power stations totaling over 2,000 gigawatts capacity. They generate about a th ...

near

Joseph City, Arizona Joseph City (elevation 5,000 ft) is a Census Designated Place located in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. It is located on Interstate 40, approximately eighty miles east of Flagstaff and about thirty-five miles west of Petrified Fore ...

, United States. The plant is jointly owned by

Arizona Public Service Arizona Public Service (APS) is the largest electric utility in Arizona, United States. Since 1985, it has been the principal subsidiary of publicly traded S&P 500 member Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, known as AZP Group until 1987. Pinnacl ...

(APS) and

PacifiCorp PacifiCorp is an electric power company in the western United States. PacifiCorp has two business units: # Pacific Power, a regulated electric utility with service territory throughout Oregon, northern California, and southeastern Washington. # ...

. The plant began operations in 1962.

History

The coal burned at the plant came mostly from the

McKinley Mine McKinley Mine was an open-pit coal mine, owned by Chevron Corporation, and located in McKinley County, New Mexico McKinley County is a county in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Census, it ...

, located east of

Window Rock, Arizona Window Rock ( nv, , ) is a census-designated place that serves as the seat of government and capital of the Navajo Nation, the largest territory in North America of a sovereign Native American nation. The capital lies within the boundaries of the ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, until the mine was closed in 2009 after its reserves being leased were exhausted. In 2010, the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

(EPA) notified Cholla that pollution controls were needed for Units 2 through 4. 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. 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 The Arizona Corporation Commission is the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Arizona, established by Article 15 of the Arizona Constitution. Arizona is one of only fourteen states with elected commissioners. The Arizona Constitution exp ...

voted down that plan in 2019.

Units

The plant currently consists of the following units:

References

External links

* AP

Data on generation and fuel consumption
from the

Energy Information Administration The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and publ ...

Electricity Data Browser {{Generating stations in Arizona Energy infrastructure completed in 1962 Energy infrastructure completed in 1978 Energy infrastructure completed in 1980 Energy infrastructure completed in 1981 Buildings and structures in Navajo County, Arizona Coal-fired power stations in Arizona PacifiCorp