Latest addition to evolving energy hub announced

Millard County could soon be home to the world’s largest renewable energy storage operation, Gov. Gary Herbert announced during his annual Energy Summit in Salt Lake City.


The project is a partnership between Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS), makers of turbines powered by hydrogen and natural gas, and Magnum Development, which is developing a number of fuel storage and delivery ventures near the Intermountain Power Project (IPP).


This new initiative, dubbed the Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project, aims to eventually generate up to 1,000 megawatts of 100 percent clean energy— enough electricity to power 150,000 homes for an entire year—on demand utilizing Magnum’s unique underground salt domes to store air under high pressure. Air heats to a high temperature under high pressure or can be heated to power turbines, according to the Energy Storage Association, thus generating zero-carbon electricity during peak demand times, when other renewable sources, such as wind and solar alone, may be unable to meet the needs of power-hungry communities across the West.


The ACES project follows local permitting approval a few weeks ago of the TransWest Express high-voltage power line project, a massive 730-mile power transmission initiative that aims to connect 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy in Wyoming with customers across the western region. A converter station is planned for Millard County as well as 93 miles of line within the county’s borders.


Premium Energy Holdings, a California venture, also filed a preliminary application for a permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on May 9 to build a closed-loop, 2,000 megawatt hydro electric power project utilizing Delta’s DMAD Reservoir and a proposed new reservoir in the mountains surrounding Oak City.


The culmination of all these projects would result in Millard County becoming a hub of renewable power generation and transmission initiatives serving the entire western electric grid. Millard County Chronicle Progress

Massive transmission project gets green light

Millard County commissioners approved two conditional use permits last week for an ambitious power transmission project that could deliver $477 million in tax receipts to the county over the life of the endeavor.

TransWest Express (TWE), a subsidiary of Denver-based, privately-held Anschutz Corporation, is planning to start construction next year on a 730-mile power transmission project stretching from wind farms in Wyoming, crossing portions of Colorado and Utah, to a sub-station in Nevada, potentially delivering 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy to customers throughout the Southwest. That amount of electricity is enough to power 1.8 million homes annually. About 93 miles of new transmission line as well as an electric converter station would be located in Millard County. The converter station would be used to convert high voltage direct current electricity into alternating current power. The new power lines would be built mostly on federal lands inside the county. Three percent would stretch across state land and 6 percent would cross private land, according to a permit application on file with the county. Millard County Chronicle Progress

Site outside Milford chosen for experimental geothermal power project

The federal government is planning to spend up to $140 million toward plans at the University of Utah to research and develop a new method for extracting geothermal energy from the earth. The U.S. Department of Energy picked the windswept area northwest of Cedar City to expand the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy, or FORGE, with hopes of developing a more efficient way to use the earth's heat to meet electricity needs.

The plan involves drilling two 8,000-foot wells into the ground beneath the site. Water is sent underground into the heat of the earth and then drawn back up to the surface, where its steam can be used to move a turbine and generate electricity. The Spectrum

Magnum Solutions Expanding in Millard County

Magnum Solutions, LLC was recently approved for several conditional use permits that would allow their operations to expand while keeping in line with the county’s vision of growth and development, after careful review. The company owns the largest underground propane and butane storage facility in the western United States.

In addition, Magnum has made significant progress toward the launch of three new businesses in the past few months. On March 30, Magnum closed on a joint venture with a former company, Magnum NGLs, now Sawtooth NGL Storage Caverns, LLC to advance on a new business- refined products storage. Refined products include gasoline, diesel fuel and aviation fuel.

In the coming months, Magnum and Sawtooth will be working closely with the county to obtain the necessary permits to incorporate the refined products business with the existing facility.

Magnum also received notice in the past two weeks that they have passed to the next round in the process for Southern California Public Power Authority’s request for proposal to develop a compressed air energy storage facility at Delta. The significance of the CAES technology is that CAES captures intermittent renewable generation and shapes the product into reliable and dispatchable electricity.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which is the major participant in IPP, is part of SCPPA. This is significant for Magnum as they are now engaged in discussions with California power entities for the construction of 160- megawatt CAES plant at the Western Energy Hub, said James.

The development of a CAES plant in Delta will not only support energy security and reliability throughout the Western U.S., but also create jobs in Millard County. Millard County Chronicle Progress

Magnum proposes to rezone to heavy industrial

Magnum Development will propose changes at a Millard County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting that would allow solar and wind energy systems. Magnum has developed commercial-scale underground bulk cavern storage 10 miles north of Delta, part of the Western Energy Hub plan. These solution-mined caverns are capable of storing natural gas, compressed air, and liquid energy products underground.

This unique storage technology has the potential of efficiently integrating the generation and transmission of renewable power to and from the Western United States. With access to both the interstate rail and highway systems — and with direct access to natural gas pipeline systems — this central hub component is also located by a high voltage transmission grid offering exclusive energy options.

Magnum has developed commercial-scale underground bulk cavern storage 10 miles north of Delta, part of the Western Energy Hub plan. These solution-mined caverns are capable of storing natural gas, compressed air, and liquid energy products underground. Millard County Chronicle Progress

Intermountain Power Project will shutter coal-fired power plant near Delta

Utah's largest coal-fired power plant — the Intermountain Power Project outside Delta — will cease operations by 2025 due to losing its Southern California customer base and a weak market for coal-fueled electricity. The decision was anticipated, with its Southern California municipality customer base being prohibited from purchasing coal-fueled electricity when the contracts are up.

While electricity will no longer flow from heating coal, IPP participants are moving ahead with plans to develop new natural gas-fueled electricity generation at the site. Already, 32 municipal power systems and rural electric cooperatives have agreed to participate in the gas project, and engineering work has started, according to company officials.

The project will bring on 1,200 megawatts of new natural-gas fueled electricity, compared with the 1,800 megawatts of installed capacity from coal-fired generation. More than 440 people are employed at the site, generating an annual payroll that exceeds $46 million, according to a news release. The next eight years will be a time of "transition" for the plant's employees, but exactly how many of those workers will be able to retain their jobs was not specified in the company announcement. Deseret News

Interior Department approves major transmission lines through Utah

The U.S. Interior Department has announced their approval of the TransWest Express transmission line. The TransWest Express Project is a high-voltage, direct current electric transmission system that will deliver wind energy from Wyoming along a 730-mile route with potential grid interconnections in California, Nevada and Arizona. About 60 percent of its route — which crosses Utah — impacts Bureau of Land Management land and follows previously established utility corridors where possible.

The project, which will take three years to build, adds 3,000 megawatts of "backbone" transmission capacity between the Desert Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions, or enough energy to power 1.8 million homes. Deseret News

Rocky Mountain Power announces solar subscriber program for Millard Solar Farm

The state's largest electric provider is launching a new alternative energy program. Rocky Mountain Power announced an agreement with German energy developer juwi to build the utility’s first Subscriber Solar program resource. The 20 megawatt solar farm will be located in the Millard County town of Holden.

The alternative energy program was approved by the Utah Public Service Commission in October 2015. Customers will be able to subscribe to receive some or all of their electricity from solar power. Deseret News

Sevier County power project permit expires

A permit, issued by the Utah Division of Air Quality for a 580-megawatt natural gas-fueled power plan in Sevier County, expired October 25.

Sevier Power intends on applying for a new permit. If the company were to try and proceed with the old permit, it could wind up having to use an old technology. Sevier Power is continuing to pursue the project, as well as financing, so that when the market conditions shift, the plant can be built. Meanwhile, work is continuing on the effort to run a natural gas line capable of feeding the plant into Sevier County, according to company officials. The Richfield Reaper

Utah Court of Appeals issues decision on Sevier Power case

The Utah Court of Appeals has ruled that an air quality permit for a proposed gas-fueled power plant would stand. The decision upheld an administrative law judge’s earlier ruling that Sevier County Citizens for Clean Air and Water does not have standing in an appeal of the permit issued in 2012.

While the ruling represents the clearing of a major hurdle, there is still a lot of work to do before the proposal can make the leap from concept to reality according to company officials. The company can now pursue financing and power purchase agreements. Financing, power purchase agreements, natural gas delivery contracts and final engineering all have to be completed prior to construction, as well as a new gas line to feed the plant. The process to secure approval for a power plant is typically 28 to 32 months. The process for this particular project has taken more than a decade. Richfield Reaper

Solar energy poised to blossom in Utah desert

First Wind, which operates a 165-turbine wind farm near Milford, is now moving into the solar business. On Wednesday the company announced it has reached critical agreements with Rocky Mountain Power to purchase 20 megawatts of power from seven projects First Wind will build in Iron and Beaver counties. They will deploy 73,000 300-watt panels expected to go online in summer 2015, producing enough power for 4,000 Utah homes.

Juwi Solar, a Boulder, Colo.-based subsidiary of the German firm Juwi AG, is developing a 50-megawatt solar farm on 350 acres of private ranchlands outside Holden. The company has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Rocky Mountain Power.

SunEdison has the most ambitious plans for Utah, with several projects in the works in southwestern Utah. The company has secured agreements to sell 33 megawatts and is negotiating contracts for another 55. It also is eyeing four large-scale projects across sites that could generate up to 260 megawatts — about two-thirds the capacity of Salt Lake City’s Gadsby generating station. SunEdison plans on investing $500 million in Utah by 2016, generating 700 construction jobs and establishing a centralized service center in Iron County that would have 10 to 15 permanent positions. Salt Lake Tribune

Power plant proposal waiting for legal issues to be resolved

The future of a proposal to build a 580-megawatt natural gas power plant near Sigurd remains in the hands of the Utah Court of Appeals. The court is set to hear the status of an opposition group’s standing in the appeal of the proposed plant’s air quality permit. The permit was issued in October 2012, and later appealed by Sevier County Citizens for Clean Air and Water. The appeal was originally dismissed by the Utah Division of Air Quality’s executive director, and subsequently taken to the Utah appellate court. A motion to dismiss the appeal was struck down by the court in September 2013. Since that time, the lawsuit has been in the discovery phase. Richfield Reaper

Energy Capital’s Solar Farm

A small forest of solar panels could soon spring up on the rolling hills east of the Intermountain Power Plant north of the Brush Highway. Energy Capital Group is completing all of the requirements to install a 300 Megawatt solar plant. It will cover an area one-half mile by 4.5 miles on land leased from the Utah School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA). The 1754-acre site will use single axis photovoltaic solar panels to capture sunlight converting it into a flow of electrons. With single axis tracking systems, the panels can turn around the center axis, for maximum production.

The $600 million solar farm will employ from 200 to 250 people during construction. Case said the jobs are such that it should allow a lot of local people to work on the construction phase. He said permanent operations and maintenance jobs will number about six-to-ten people. Millard County Chronicle

IPP plans conversion to natural gas

The current plan being pursued by IPA is to turn IPP into a natural gas power plant by 2025. The plan would be to begin construction on the natural gas facility in 2020, erecting the new facility on property originally designed for two additional coal-burning units at the outset of the project. Officials said exactly what IPA would do with the two current 750-megawatt units is still up in the air. They won’t be physically converting them to produce power with natural gas, leaving them open to being purchased by a third party, or possibly eventually being torn down. All of the project participants have to agree to modify the project. Richfield Reaper

300-megawatt solar plant crosses regulatory threshold in Millard County

A conditional-use permit outlining operational requirements for what would be Utah's first utility-scale commercial solar field was issued to a Provo-based company. Energy Capital Group received a go-ahead endorsement by the Millard County Commission for its 300-megawatt solar project called ECG Utah Solar 1.

Garkane hosts groundbreaking for new transmission line

Federal, state and local representatives gathered at Dave’s Hollow Ranger Station west of Tropic June 17 for a groundbreaking ceremony for a Garkane Energy transmission line project. The 138kV Tropic to Hatch line will help serve future growth in the outlying communities of south central Utah, in Garfield and Kane counties. Richfield Reaper

Change at power giant will be felt from Utah to L.A.

The Intermountain Power Project’s days as a massive plant that produces electricity for an energy-hungry Southern California through coal-fired generation probably are coming to an end.

Exactly what it will become is only beginning to take shape, with more questions than answers surrounding its future. Certainty, where it can be found, says that the changes could be profound, impacting the state’s coal industry, ratepayers and the environment, just to name few.

Elected officials from sprawling Los Angeles, which gets nearly 45 percent of its power from IPP, voted recently to end reliance on electricity generated from coal-fired power plants in favor of cleaner but more expensive natural gas by 2025, two years ahead of a state-mandated deadline.


Although L.A.’s announcement should help pave the way for construction of a natural gas-fired generating unit at IPP to meet that decree, it casts doubt on the long-term viability of the Utah power plant’s two existing coal-fired units. Those units, which in 2012 gulped almost a third of the coal produced in Utah, also provide electricity to five other Southern California municipalities and on an as-needed basis to smaller cities in the Beehive State. Salt Lake Tribune

L.A. vote may push Utah’s IPP from coal to mostly natural gas

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

Rocky Mountain Power ready to build Sigurd to Red Butte transmission line

Rocky Mountain Power’s Sigurd to Red Butte transmission line is making progress. The construction phase of the project should begin in May. The 170-mile transmission line will run 345 kilovolts, which can provide enough juice for 584,000 homes. Mesa, Ariz., based EC Source Services will serve as the contractor for the project. The complete build out on the line is scheduled to take approximately two years. Richfield Reaper

Mulling irrigation water fee increase in Salina

Residents in Salina could see a bump in what they pay for pressurized irrigation services this summer.
During a Jan. 23 meeting, Mayor Conrad Miller said he feels the council needs to consider restructuring the fee schedule for its irrigation services. He said at the present rate, the city has no contingency funds in reserve for major maintenance or improvements.

Miller said he came to this conclusion after draining the irrigation pond and putting out to bid the project to dredge it. He said of the two bids that came in, the lowest was $169,000, which the city awarded to Salina based Rasmussen Excavation.

According to Miller, there are some 20,000 yards of material in the bottom of the pond that need to be removed, and with crews moving the excess to a place a mile from the pond, the cost comes to about $8 a yard.

In planning for future dredging or improvement projects, however, Miller said in order for the pond to be self-sufficient, the city has no choice but to increase its monthly service fee.

During the meeting, Councilman Earl Taylor said the city also needs to come up with some $4,250 to help put a slurry seal on the airport runway in Redmond.

The $85,000 project is being 90 percent covered by a grant through the Utah Department of Transportation, but the remaining 10 percent must come from Salina and Gunnison cities, according to Taylor.

Miller said in order to bring the runway up to Federal Aviation Administration standards, the two cities are going to have to dig up the current runway and redo it, lengthening it to 5,000 feet. He said that project will likely cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000 to $700,000. Richfield Reaper