Laughlin power plant faces closure in 2005

Tuesday, April 1, 2003 | 11:14 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

A power plant near Laughlin owned in part by Nevada Power Co. could be closed by 2005 because of pollution issues and fuel and water supply problems.

Edison International, which owns 56 percent of the 1,580-megawatt Mohave Generating Station through its Southern California Edison subsidiary, announced the possible closure in filings Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The utility consortium that owns the plant must make more than $1 billion in pollution control improvements if the plant is to operate past 2005, the company said.

Nevada Power owns a 14 percent stake in the plant and gets 196 megawatts of power from the plant each year. Nevada Power's stake in updating the pollution controls would total $154 million.

Nevada Power officials said a final decision on the future of the plant has not been made, but the company is not planning on receiving power from Mohave during 2005 and 2006.

"We have planned not to have that 196 megawatts," said Sonya Headen, a Nevada Power spokesperson.

Options for the plant includes retrofitting the coal-fired plant to cleaner-burning natural gas, Headen said. Nevada Power engineers are working with Southern California Edison to determine the future of the plant, she said.

Should the plant close permanently, Headen said, the company will be ready to find power elsewhere on a long-term basis.

The cash raised by the plant remaining open over the next two years will be less than the $88 million carrying value of the plant on Edison's books as of Dec. 31, causing the Rosemead, Calif.-based firm to incur a charge of $61 million through a regulatory proceeding.