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POWERPLANT • David Eskelsen, News Media Releations Director from Utah Power and Light passes out information sheets to those in attendance at the Tuesday morning meeting announcing that Utah Power and Light intends to build a new 525 megawatt gas fired power plant west of Mona pending government approval.

PacifiCorp has signaled its intention to build a 525-megawatt natural gas fired power plant near Mona, Utah, which would begin operations in two phases, in 2005 and 2006. The project results from the company's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and Request for Proposal (RFP) process.

Approvals to proceed with the project were recently made by the PacifiCorp Board. Utah air quality permitting and regulatory approvals are pending. The utility operates as Utah Power and Pacific Power in six western states.

The project, named Currant Creek, is a combined-cycle combustion turbine plant, but will be constructed in two phases. The first phase would include installation of two simple-cycle gas turbines, totaling 280 megawatts, timed for 2005 summer customer demand. In the second phase, two heat recovery steam generators and a steam turbine will be installed. These additional equipment installations will increase the capability of the project by 245 megawatts and would be made available for the 2006 summer customer demand. The project site is located about 75 miles south of Salt Lake City.

"We are pleased to be moving forward with actions under our Integrated Resource Plan and RFP process," said Judi Johansen, PacifiCorp CEO. "This is the first of a number of action steps under the plan we are taking in order to provide safe, reliable service to our customers.

"The Currant Creek project was determined to have the best cost/risk balance of a number of options submitted in the RFP process for a long-term resource that could be available in time to meet 2005 customer demand. RFP responses were masked by an independent consultant so the identities of the bidders were not known.  The consultant then audited the evaluations that were used to determine the lowest cost alternative. This process ensures that selected projects represent the best value for customers," Johansen said.

Other responses to PacifiCorp's first RFP have been evaluated and negotiations are in progress with several suppliers. Decisions regarding those proposals will be made in the coming weeks and announced at the appropriate time.

PacifiCorp's IRP was filed with state utility regulators in January 2003. It identified 4,000 megawatts of new resources needed to serve PacifiCorp customers over the course of the next 10 years. The plan identified a range of options that include thermal, wind, and geothermal generation, as well as significant demand-side programs to give consumers more options for energy efficiency.