Arizona utility increases its share of nuclear power plant

PHOENIX (AP) - An Arizona public utility is increasing its ownership share in the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station located west of Phoenix.

The Salt River Project announced that its board has approved the purchase of part of Public Service Co. of New Mexico’s ownership along with some transmission assets for about $70 million plus the unspecified cost of the plant’s associated nuclear fuel inventory.

When the deal is completed, SRP’s ownership share will be about 20% of the plant’s total capacity, up from 17.5%, SRP said in a statement.

SRP said its purchase of 114 megawatts of Palo Verde’s output from PNM will increase access to “safe, reliable and zero-carbon emitting energy” needed to serve increasing customer demand.

According to SRP, the practice is attractive economically because it would have cost much more to build a new generating facility, as it has long planned to do.

The purchase of most of the power is expected to be completed in January 2023, followed by the remainder in 2024.

The three-reactor plant is located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of downtown Phoenix.