Idaho Power Pursues Accelerated Depreciation of North Valmy Coal Plant
Idaho Power—co-owner with NV Energy of the two-unit 522-MW North Valmy Generating Station near Battle Mountain, Nevada—filed a request with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (IPUC) last week seeking to accelerate the depreciable life of the power plant from 2031 for Unit 1 and 2035 for Unit 2 to 2025 for both units.
In Idaho Power’s 2015 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), the company said its preferred portfolio included retirement of the North Valmy plant at year-end 2025. The timing matched the expected completion date of the Boardman to Hemingway transmission line project, which will add a new connection to the Pacific Northwest. The preferred portfolio included the addition of 60 MW of demand response and 20 MW of ice-based thermal energy storage in 2030, and the addition of a 300-MW combined cycle combustion turbine in 2031.
The 2015 IRP included a 2016 action item to continue working with NV Energy “to synchronize depreciation dates and determine if a date can be established to cease coal-fired operations” at North Valmy Units 1 and 2.…