The demise of a coal-fired power plant has several Utah Valley cities looking to the wind.
The Intermountain Power Plant near Delta has dropped plans to build a third coal-fired generator at its 1,800-megawatt power station, a decision being hailed as a victory by environmental groups.
The Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, known as UAMPS, had pledged to buy half the power created by the generator. UAMPS provides power to Eagle Mountain, Lehi, Payson and Springville, in addition to Heber City and many other cities and organizations in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and California.
Now, UAMPS says it will announce, within 90 days, final plans to build its own wind farm in Idaho.
The farm will generate between 40 and 60 megawatts of power, said UAMPS spokeswoman Jackie Coombs. Some member cities have already signed on to purchase power from the project.
The Sierra Club and other groups had been challenging the state-issued emissions permit for the Delta generator and said the project's demise reflects a nationwide trend as utilities jettison coal-fired plants for cleaner forms of power.
On Friday, Joro Walker of the environmental group Western Resource Advocates told the Daily Herald that the decision to drop the proposed coal-fired generator represents "a renewed focus on renewable energy," and a growing awareness about air pollution and its links to coal-fired power. Walker joined the Utah chapter of the Sierra Club and other groups in issuing a news release celebrating UAMPS's decision to walk away from the proposed coal-fired generator.
In an interview, Walker said she had not been aware of UAMPS decision to build a wind farm, but was pleased with the news.
The wind farm is part of a larger push from UAMPS to "do more in conservation and renewables," Coombs said. "We are looking at securing a wind project and constructing it ourselves."
In addition, the group has launched an energy conservation campaign and is considering building a natural-gas-powered generator.
All of this represents a sea change from even two years ago, when local members of UAMPS were lauding the coal-fired plant as forward-thinking. Since that time, proposed coal-fired plants across the nation have come under intense scrutiny because of air pollution concerns.
Trouble for the $2.6 billion, 900-megawatt Intermountain Power Plant Phase III, as it was to be called, came to a head in early in 2007 when some California cities dropped out of the project, facing environmental pressure. UAMPS sued over the decision, and the suit was settled quietly last month. Intermountain Power Agency spokesman John Ward told the Associated Press that without partners such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the IPA had no choice but to kill the project.
Coombs told the Daily Herald that the undisclosed terms of the suit allow UAMPS to recoup the costs the group had already invested into the project. Now, the group is ready to push full-steam, so to speak, into a new green-friendly energy future.
"We are moving forward," Coombs said.
Environmental groups like the group's new direction.
"Building IPP No. 3 would have burdened Utah with more coal-burning pollution," said Wayne Hoskinson of the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club in a statement. "This opens the door for additional renewable projects, like the Milford wind development, allowing the state to still be an exporter of energy without the cost of worsened air quality and more mercury pollution."
The proposed third unit for IPP has been mired in a legal struggle since 2004 when the Utah Division of Air Quality issued an air permit for the project. Shortly afterwards, the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club filed an appeal with the Utah air quality board. But the board refused to hear the appeal, ruling that the Sierra Club did not have sufficient legal interest to file such action. That decision was overturned by the Utah Supreme Court in 2006, however, allowing the appeal to go forward. But the appeal was never heard because the process was suspended in 2007 because of inactivity by the Intermountain Power Service Corporation.
That same year, the City of Los Angeles, which is one of the principal owners in IPP's two existing generators, voted to not allow the proposed third generator to be built on the site. Shortly afterwards, PacifiCorp and UAMPS filed suit against the city of Los Angeles, alleging a breach of contract.
The whole saga foreshadows the future of similar projects, Hoskinson said.
"The end of Unit III's long history, along with similar fates on approximately seven other such facilities in the intermountain region, has many wondering what keeps other coal plant proposals alive," he said. "If a large-scale project like IPP III can't become viable, even with the backing from a large investor-owned utility and municipalities, how can a privately-backed merchant plant like Sevier Power Company or the Toquop coal plant near Mesquite, Nev., look like anything but an investor's nightmare?"
Posted in Local on Sunday, July 12, 2009 12:10 am Updated: 8:19 am. | Tags: Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, Intermountain Power Plant, Coal Power, Wind Power, Alternative Energy
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