Tri-State Closing Arizona, Colorado Coal Plants Early, Investing in More Renewables

Colorado-based cooperative Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association will accelerate the closure of a coal-fired unit in the northwestern part of CO, and announced a retirement date for an Arizona coal plant.

Tri-State said it wants to acquire at least another 1,250 MW of renewable energy generation over the next several years. The not-for-profit company, which serves rural electricity consumers across four western states, said the ERP filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission seeks to take advantage of funding from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s $9.7 billion Empowering Rural America program, part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.

The use of funding from the New ERA program will help Tri-State reduce the risks to its customers of higher energy bills due to the costs of retiring stranded assets. Tri-State said economic considerations were paramount in the decision to close the coal plants.

The utility announced it will close the last of three units at the 1,285-MW coal-powered Craig Station in Colorado by 1/1/28. Unit 3 originally was scheduled to close by 12/31/29. The retirements of Units 1 and 2 at Craig (by 12/31/25, and 9/30/28, respectively) were previously announced. Craig 1 and 2 are jointly owned by Xcel Energy, Platte River Power Authority, Salt River Project, PacifiCorp. and Tri-State; Tri-State wholly owns Unit 3.

Tri-State said it will close Arizona’s Springerville Station 458-MW Unit 3 in 2031. The Springerville power plant is a 1,765-megawatt, four-unit generating facility in eastern Arizona near the New Mexico border. Tri-State wholly owns Unit 3, which opened in 2006 and had an expected lifespan of 60 years. Units 1 and 2 at Springerville are owned by Tucson Electric Power, which has said it will close the units in 2027 and 2032, respectively. Unit 4, owned by Salt River Project, has no retirement date.

“It is going to cost another fortune to rebuild something useful after these fools get done”

Isn’t that the truth? It’ll be the world’s biggest white elephant. Maybe $1 or $2 trillion flushed down the crapper. Then it’ll take several decades to put Humpty Dumpty back together again...IF there will be anybody left that knows how to do that. Which is doubtful. All the old thermal power engineers will be dead and the world will only have windmill and solar cell experts.

The OG&E plants have been on liberal exceptions to emissions for many years now by the state. They are nearly 50 years old. I remember when they were built and big news. I was able to get one of the construction managers to speak at the ASCE student chapter meeting and we got a tour of the plant at Ponca City north of Stillwater.

Few people will remember that coal in the 70s was the answer to the energy crisis. A new kid in town. Before that there were no mines to speak of in Wyoming and surely no unit trains. In this part of the country the trains were a big deal. Novel and new.

The plant at Inola has been given execution stays for quite some time now.

Other than natural gas, I really don't know what we are going to do for power.

In 1982 we opened the valves on a group of new Red Fork wells between Clinton and Weatherford that sold into three pipelines. California was so desperate for natural gas we were selling for $9.35 an MCF. True. The geologist on that job got a new BMW that day but I drilled and completed the well and got paid. I always picked up a huge box of jelly, sausage and egg biscuits at Hardee's for the crews when we perforated or did something special. Really great times. Natural gas sells for between $2 and $3 now. It won't stay that way for long. You can go through a lot of quadrillions of BTUs in gas fired plant and turbine generators. The world is being set up for natural gas to be the last real resort to keeping the lights on when the wind don't blow and the sun don't shine.

For years there was the relic of an old gas fired power plant on the West bank of the Arkansas at Muskogee. It died in the early 70s when natural gas got far to expensive to burn for power. These old plants are scattered about still.

Chemical Engineers weep bitter tears to see natural gas burned. It is just too valuable as a feed stock for that.

We will see shortages of the miracle fuels again. It will be worse this time though. The petroleum industry just gets more and more beat up. More and more restricted and regulated.

We are burying ourselves. One wonders if Gates et al are not creating a market for light modular nuclear like he did with WHO and his vaccines? The queer thing about power and money is how people never do get enough of either one. They also don't give a tinker's damn who they hurt in the process, they are always saved. It is just an evil sickness.

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