The largest coal-fired power plant in Utah , the Intermountain Power Project (IPP) that is located in the Great Basin region of western Utah and primarily serving southern California is no longer operating. This comes after the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power quietly pulled the plug on the facility just before Thanksgiving.
Additionally, the shutdown of the coal-fired power plant happened with no impact on customers. This is despite the fact that the Utah Legislature blocked the Intermountain Power Agency from fully retiring its fossil fuel units this year and ordered that the units can’t be disconnected or decommissioned. However, no buyers have lined up to purchase these outdated plants and keep them running.
Intermountain Power Project Factsheet
Location: Near Delta, Millard County, Utah
Owner Intermountain Power Agency (IPA) – a joint action agency of 23 Utah municipalities.
Operator: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)
Primary fuel: Coal (primarily high-BTU, low-sulfur bituminous coal mined in Utah)
Commercial operation: Unit 1: June 1986, Unit 2: May 1987
Original capacity: 1,900 Megawatts (MW) (2 units of 950 MW each)
Key output destination: Principally Southern California, as well as Utah project participants.
Transmission: Features the $\pm 500\text{ kV}$ HVDC Intermountain transmission line, running approximately 490 miles to Adelanto, California.
Status of coal units: Ceased operation in late 2025 as part of the transition plan.
Current State of Affairs
Currently, the plant now lies idle. However, it is legally required to remain connected, serious questions remain about who will shoulder the cost of keeping an obsolete coal facility on standby.
In response, Zack Waterman who serves as the Western Manager for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Utah and California, released the following statement: “On one of the biggest holidays of the year, people’s lights stayed on and no one noticed that these coal units went offline. That silence speaks volumes: we don’t need to keep our communities tethered to outdated, dirty coal plants to maintain reliable power. California is choosing a cleaner path forward and we’re working hard to ensure Utah does the same.”
Utah is having some green energy development projects as it seeks full transition to green energy. One of the projects is the Green River Energy Center Construction Project.
