Rural Arizona communities could drastically reduce their emissions as the state’s largest member-owned power cooperative moves to eliminate coal by 2028.
Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, which provides the large majority of power for all but one of Arizona’s rural power co-ops, has said it will eliminate the last of its dwindling coal consumption and construct four large renewable energy projects using money from the Biden Administration.
AEPCO was awarded access to $845 million in “Empowering Rural America” funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture this month.
The cooperative uses coal in one of the six turbine units at its Apache Generating Station south of Willcox in Cochise County. AEPCO plans to eliminate coal from that turbine entirely by the end of 2027, transition the unit to natural gas and eventually reduce its use altogether as newer, cleaner natural gas units and renewable energy projects come online.
The transition will end coal’s nearly decade-long decline at AEPCO generating facilities since 2014 when it made up roughly 90% of the utility’s overall power production.