North Valmy Generating Station

North Valmy Generating Station

North Valmy Generating Station is a 522-megawatt (700,000 hp) coal-fired power station located near Valmy, Nevada. The plant is jointly owned by NV Energy and Idaho Power.[1]

Coal is delivered to the location by the Union Pacific Railroad and originates in Utah and Wyoming.[2]

Description

The North Valmy Generating Station is a coal-fueled, steam-electric generating plant with two operating units. This station can be seen from Interstate 80 near Golconda, NV. When It is run at high capacity it burns through over one hundred rail cars of coal per day.

History

Construction was begun in 1979 by Sierra Pacific Resources on the plant.[3] The first unit went on line in 1981 and is rated at 254-megawatt (341,000 hp) with a Babcock & Wilcox Boiler and Westinghouse turbine/generator. The second unit followed in 1985 and is rated at 268-megawatt (359,000 hp)with a Foster Wheeler Boiler and General Electric turbine/generator.[1]

By 2012, it was anticipated that unit 1 will be taken out of service in 2022[4] and unit 2 by 2025.[5][6] The owners plan 600 MW solar with 480 MW storage as partial substitutes,[7] the plan for which was approved in January 2022. The two hybrid solar projects are expected to be completed in 2024.[8]

Notes

  1. ^ a b "North Valmy Generating Station" (PDF). NV Energy. May 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
  2. ^ "NV ENERGY, INC, Form 10-K, Annual Report, Filing Date Feb 23, 2009". secdatabase.com. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  3. ^ NV Energy (January 13, 2011). "NEVADA DIVISION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FACTSHEET" (PDF). Retrieved November 19, 2012.
  4. ^ "Navajo Generating Station and Air Visibility Regulations: Alternatives and Impacts" (PDF). HDR Engineering, Inc. March 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
  5. ^ "NV Energy hopes to shutter coal-generated plant near Moapa 10 months early". August 2016.
  6. ^ Solis, Jeniffer (22 December 2018). "NV Energy to close coal plant, adds solar". Nevada Current. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019.
  7. ^ Colthorpe, Andy (3 June 2021). "Solar-plus-batteries chosen to replace 522MW Nevada coal plant". Energy Storage News.
  8. ^ Proctor, Darrell (2022-01-24). "Nevada Regulators Approve Solar+Storage to Replace Coal-Fired Plant". POWER Magazine. Retrieved 2023-03-20.

40°52′50″N 117°9′8″W / 40.88056°N 117.15222°W / 40.88056; -117.15222