APS plans to shut down 3 units at Four Corners Power Plant by end of year

Oct 4 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Chuck Slothower The Daily Times, Farmington, N.M.

Arizona Public Service Co. plans to decommission the three oldest units at Four Corners Power Plant by the end of the year, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

The Phoenix-based utility will continue to operate units 4 and 5, which produce the majority of power at Four Corners.

Closing the three oldest units could soon result in cleaner air throughout the region. Four Corners is a major producer of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and mercury.

The changes also are likely to result in fewer jobs, as the shrunken plant will not need as many employees. APS has promised to achieve the job reductions through retirements and normal attrition.

"We have committed to no layoffs at the plant, and that is true today," APS spokesman Damon Gross said. "That's still our plan."

Some APS employees have transferred to the utility's sites in Arizona, Gross said.

The planned closure of units 1, 2 and 3 is contingent on APS completing an agreement to purchase coal from neighboring Navajo Mine, operated by BHP Billiton. The existing agreement expires in 2014.

"Securing the coal contract is a prerequisite," Gross said. "We need to make sure we have a reliable source of fuel for the plant before we take the next step."

If the coal contract is extended, APS would then complete the planned purchase of Southern California Edison's

interest in units 4 and 5 for $294 million. That purchase is envisioned to be completed in December.

Once the purchase is complete, APS will begin decommissioning units 1, 2 and 3, Gross said.

"We're looking at the end of the year," he said.

It is not clear how many jobs Four Corners Power Plant would support after units 1, 2 and 3 are decommissioned. "Once the purchase is complete for units 4 and 5, we'll have a better sense of what that organizational structure will look like," Gross said.

The plant will continue to need workers through the decommissioning process, he said. "The decommissioning work is going to require personnel as well."

Four Corners' power production capacity will decline to 1,540 megawatts, down from 2,100 megawatts, after the units are decommissioned.

That means less electricity for the Western energy grid as a whole. But due to the purchase, APS will own a larger share of the plant's production.

"We'll actually have more capacity for our customers," Gross said.

Separately on Wednesday, the New Mexico Environment Department revealed a settlement that would close down two units at San Juan Generating Station by December 2017, The Associated Press reported.