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Explosions Topple Smokestacks of Iconic Navajo Generating Station

December 19, 2020

The post Explosions Topple Smokestacks of Iconic Navajo Generating Station appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Demolition of the Navajo Generating Station, a 2,400-MW coal-fired power plant that generated electricity for several cities in the U.S. Southwest, continued Dec. 18 as explosions brought down the facility’s three large smokestacks.

The plant was closed in November 2019. The NGS, located near Page, Arizona, is being demolished by Salt River Project (SRP). The station was the largest coal-fired power plant in the western U.S., and the three 775-foot-tall smokestacks towered above the surrounding countryside.

The plant, which generated power for Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Los Angeles, California, along with other cities, also pumped water that helped spur the growth of the Phoenix metropolitan area.…

Potential Navajo Station Operator—Less Capacity Equals More Profit

August 17, 2018

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The possible new operator of the largest coal-fired power plant in the western U.S. told Arizona regulators this week the company would run the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) at less than half its installed generation capacity in order to maintain profitability. An official for Illinois-based Middle River Power (MRP) also said the plant would operate with fewer workers and would pursue a new lease and coal supply agreement.

The current owners of the 2,250-MW Navajo station in Page, Arizona, which include Arizona Public Service (APS), have said they plan to close the plant in 2019 unless it can be sold. Negotiations are continuing with New York-based Avenue Capital Group, a global investment firm that invests in distressed companies and the distressed debt market, as the potential new owner, with MRP—headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield—as the potential new operator. Russell Begaye, president of the Navajo Nation on whose land the plant sits, recently said a lease agreement with Avenue Capital and MRP could be discussed by tribal lawmakers at a meeting in October.…

Navajo Nation Negotiating Sale of West’s Largest Coal Plant

July 17, 2018

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The Navajo Nation on July 12 said it has identified a potential buyer for the 2,250-MW Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in Arizona, the largest coal-fired power plant in the western U.S. The Navajo Nation Council, in a joint news release with the Navajo Nation’s Office of the President and Vice President, said the Hopi Tribe supports an agreement to sell the plant in order to keep it open, along with the nearby Kayenta Mine from which the plant sources coal.

The NGS and the adjacent mine generate about one-third of the Navajo Nation’s operating budget and about 80% of the Hopi Tribe’s, with most of the workers at both the power plant and the mine members of the tribes. The plant’s current ownership plans to close the plant near Page, Arizona, by the end of 2019 if the facility is not sold.

The joint release said negotiations are underway with New York-based Avenue Capital Group, a global investment firm that invests in distressed companies and the distressed debt market, as the potential new owner.…

Chicago Company Preparing Offer for Navajo Generating Station

June 11, 2018

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A suburban Chicago-based energy company executive on June 7 told Arizona officials his group is putting together a proposal to purchase the Navajo Generating Station (NGS), the largest coal-fired power plant in the western U.S. The plant’s current owners have said they will close the 2,250-MW facility by year-end 2019 unless a buyer is found.

Workers, their family members, union representatives, and tribal leaders had rallied Wednesday in Phoenix, asking state officials to slow the process of closing the plant, which employs hundreds of Native Americans along with the nearby Kayenta Mine that supplies coal for the plant. Joe Greco, senior vice president of Middle River Power in Chicago, told the Central Arizona Water Conservation District board on Thursday that his company could operate the plant efficiently and economically.

The water board was meeting Thursday to consider bids for the future power supply to pump water for the Central Arizona Project (CAP), which supplies some of the state through an aqueduct system from the Colorado River.…

Interior Dept., Peabody Energy Seek to Keep Coal-Fired Navajo Plant Open

April 17, 2017

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The Navajo Generating Station can continue to be competitive under a reduced-price fuel proposal through 2040, said Peabody Energy, the coal giant which owns a coal mine currently fueling the Arizona plant.

The utility owners of the Navajo plant on February 16 voted to shut down the 2,250-MW coal-fired power plant in December 2019. The decision to close the plant on tribal land near Page along the border with Utah was based on the “rapidly changing economics of the energy industry,” which has seen natural gas prices sink to record lows, the plant’s owners said.

The plant is operated by Salt River Project (SRP). SRP is a utility owner along with Arizona Public Service Co., Tucson Electric Power Co., and NV Energy. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is a participant in the project.

But according to the Arizona Republic, Peabody Energy told regulators last week that the power plant could profit under new ownership. The newspaper reported that the coal company’s officials are “positioning the Navajo Generating Station for new buyers to come in and take over the troubled coal plant, which would allow the company to continue selling coal to the facility” from its Kayenta Mine in northern Arizona.…