The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved an alternative plan laid out by the Arizona Generation & Transmission Cooperatives (AzGT) to reduce the sulfur dioxide and particulate matter emissions at Arizona Electric Power Cooperative’s Apache Generating Station, east of Benson.
The plan, proposed in February 2013, requires the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative (AEPCO) to convert one of the station’s two coal-fired units to natural gas and install upgraded emissions controls on both units, which will cost $32 million.
That’s far less than the $200 million estimated for the EPA’s original Federal Implementation Plan, which called for the plant to install costly selective catalytic reduction technology on both of the units in an effort to reduce regional haze.
The cost associated with the EPA plan could have forced the plant to shut down one or both of its units, according to a news release issued last year by AzGT.
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AzGT is made up of AEPCO, which owns and operates the 605-megawatt Apache power plant; Southwest Transmission Cooperative; and Sierra Southwest Cooperative Services.
AEPCO has until December of 2017 to comply.
