TEP’s Springerville Power Plant Offline Due to Forced Outage

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). One of TEP’s (Tucson Electric Power) units at the Springerville power plant was offline today due to an unplanned outage. The station’s Unit 03 (418-megawatt) experienced fan problems, which eventually forced officials to shut down the unit for repairs. While performing weekly routine testing on the unit, engineers discovered problems with the ID fan. External fans are usually provided to give sufficient air for combustion. The ID fan vacuums out the combustible gases from the furnace, which, as a result, avoid backfiring through any of the openings. Accumulation of combustible gases can result in furnace explosions that can lead to a unit failure and an extended amount of outage time.

The Springerville power plant, located in east-central Arizona, consists of three coal-fired units with a total capacity of 1,178 megawatts. The station’s Unit 03 was recently added earlier this year and expansion plans are underway for an additional 400-megawatt unit. The first three units are owned by Tucson Electric Power while the planned new unit (Unit 04), will be owned by SRP (Salt River Project). SRP will utilize this unit to provide power for the growing Arizona region and to hedge against natural gas price volatility. Construction costs for Unit 04 are estimated at $600 million. The new unit will utilize the latest in control technologies and equipment to limit emissions including dry scrubbers for sulfur dioxide reduction, selective catalytic reduction, and low NOx burners to control nitrogen oxides.

Tucson Electric Power (TEP), the principal subsidiary of Unisource Energy (NYSE:UNS ), serves more than 375,000 customers in Southern Arizona. TEP remains the backbone to Unisource’s success. Unisource is the largest publicly traded company based in Tucson, Arizona. Unisource Energy’s market capital as of today’s date is $1.3 billion. In 2005, the company’s net income after operating costs was $46 million.

SRP consists of two entities: the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District, a subdivision of the state of Arizona; and the Salt River Valley Water User’s Association, a private corporation. The district provides electricity to more than 900,000 customers in the Phoenix area. It participates in the operations of eleven major power plants and numerous other generating stations including thermal, natural gas, and hydroelectric sources. SRP’s net revenue for 2005 was $362 million.

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