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Rocky Mountain Power is asking state utility regulators for permission to build a new natural gas-fired power plant in Utah County.
The utility said it needs the additional plant to provide for the growing electricity needs of its Utah customers, which will include the new $1.5 billion data center now under construction at Camp Williams in northern Utah County. That facility will be used by the nation's security agencies to fend off cyber attacks.
"All of the forecasts we have show there will be some pretty brisk growth in demand [for electricity] in future years," said power company spokesman Dave Eskelsen.
If the project gets Utah Public Service Commission approval, Rocky Mountain Power plans to build the new generating facility next to its existing Lake Side plant, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City in Vineyard.
The plant, which would be called Lake Side 2, is being designed to generate approximately 637 megawatts of electricity, enough to meet the needs of about 326,000 homes. The existing Lake Side plant can generate approximately 534 megawatts.
"We welcome that project," said Dan Wright, Vineyard's town clerk. "They have been talking about expanding their existing generation here for a couple of years. So it is nice to hear that they are getting ready to move forward."
Eskelsen said the company hopes to have all of the necessary approvals in place to allow construction to begin in April. The plan is for the plant to go into service by the summer of 2014. He said Rocky Mountain Power has selected the engineering firm of CH2M Hill to design and oversee construction.
The plant will have two combustion turbines that will burn natural gas and a steam turbine that will be able to produce additional electricity from exhaust heat.
Eskelsen said Rocky Mountain Power solicited several proposals from independent bidders interested in designing and constructing a plant on either the company's existing site in Vineyard or at its Currant Creek plant near Mona in Juab County.
After evaluating the bids, Rocky Mountain Power awarded the project to itself, just as it did with its Currant Creek plant in 2003.
Eskelsen said it isn't surprising that Rocky Mountain Power would select its own projects as the best option. As a regulated utility, he said, Rocky Mountain Power has access to financing at extremely favorable rates. That gives the company an edge in offering the lowest-cost options for customers.
Still, fallout from the company's decision to develop Currant Creek in-house continues to plague the utility.
Dallas-based USA Power is suing PacifiCorp, which does business in Utah as Rocky Mountain Power, claiming it pilfered USA Power's trade secrets and used them to concoct its own winning bid for the Currant Creek plant.
USA Power, through its Spring Canyon Energy subsidiary, in 2002 approached PacifiCorp about building a natural gas-fired power plant in Juab County and selling it to the utility once construction was completed.
USA contends in the lawsuit that it required PacifiCorp to sign a nondisclosure pact before it would allow the utility to review the inside design and engineering details for its proposed plant. But six months later, PacifiCorp purportedly cut off talks, indicating it wanted to put the project out to bid.
On Nov. 3, 2003, PacifiCorp awarded the project to itself and the company received the go-ahead from state utility regulators to proceed with development. The Currant Creek plant was built less than one mile away from the site proposed by USA Power.
A trial on the trade-secret dispute is expected to take place this summer.