APS To Close Generator At Cholla Power Plant

Published: Monday, September 15, 2014 - 7:24am

Arizona Public Service plans to close one of the generators at the Cholla Power Plant in 2016. The power company will go through with the plan if its compromise proposal is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

APS’s coal fired plant currently doesn’t comply with new EPA regulations. Steven Gotfried from APS says the plan shouldn’t impact customers much.

"So, we’ll be making up some of the power we’re losing from Cholla at Four Corners while also at the same time we have a modernization project going on at our Ocotillo power plant in Tempe, as well," Gotfried said.

Besides closing unit two, the plan calls for converting units one and three to natural gas sometime in the mid-2020s. Gotfired says the proposal should receive EPA’s blessing in a year or so.