The Intermountain Power Agency is talking to the city of Los Angeles and other customers about converting much of the coal-fired Intermountain Power Plant to run on cleaner but more expensive natural gas by 2025. The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously for a plan to wean the city away from coal within 12 years. The agreement signals that the council’s first choice is to replace most of IPP’s coal power with natural gas-fueled generating units that would be constructed at the facility near Delta.
The natural gas units would be financed the same way the original project was paid for — by issuing bonds that would be repaid by customers out of future sales of electricity from the plant. Some estimates have put the conversion cost as high as $500 million. Salt Lake Tribune
