SRP's New Springerville Power Plant Fully Operational

SRP's newest baseload power plant, Springerville Unit 4, has been put into commercial operation and is now supplying electricity to SRP customers. The new unit, located at Tucson Electric Power's existing Springerville Generating Station, has been under construction since late 2006.

The new generating unit will help SRP meet existing customer needs and replaces the baseload generation lost when the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev. was closed in December of 2005. Baseload power plants are designed to operate around the clock, 365 days a year.

It cost more than $1 billion to construct the new generating unit. SRP will own it and utilize the entire output; Tucson Electric Power will operate it.

"Replacing Mohave with Springerville Unit 4 is a lot like replacing an older used car with a new more modern vehicle," said SRP Chief Financial Executive Mark Bonsall. "It is a lot more expensive than the older technology, but it is also more efficient and is equipped with new, more effective environmental controls."

Springerville Unit 4, like Unit 3, is using the best-available control technologies and equipment to limit emissions. This equipment, combined with recent emissions-control upgrades to Units 1 and 2, will ensure that total emissions from all four units will be significantly less than previous emissions from the two original units.

There are now four 400-megawatt, coal-fired units at the Springerville plant. Unit 3 was constructed for Denver-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, and SRP has contracted for 100 megawatts of its 400-megawatt capacity.

Return to January 2010 Western Energy News

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