Utilities vote to close Navajo coal plant at end of 2019

PHOENIX (AP) — Owners of a coal-fired power plant in northern Arizona have decided to close the plant when their lease expires in December 2019. The Navajo Generating Station's plant's operator, the Salt River Project, has said closing the three-unit, 2,250-megawatt plant in Page near the Arizona-Utah line was a possibility because less expensive power generated by burning natural gas is available. The SRP is one of the plant's owners, along with Tucson Electric Power Co., Arizona Public Service Co., Nevada-based NV Energy and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The owners reached their decision Monday after a telephone meeting. The utility owners need to work out an arrangement with the Navajo Nation to decommission the plant after the lease expires.