Title
Joint Meeting Between Council and the Board of Public Utilities - Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) Presentation on the Carbon Free Power Project
Recommended Action
No Action, Presentation Only
Body
At the recommendation of a citizen ad hoc committee and the direction of the BPU, the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) was tasked to continue participating in the Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP) as an option for meeting a portion of the County’s power demands. The CFPP is being considered as a potential resource for replacing the County’s coal generation assets and to meet a Board-approved goal for the DPU to be a carbon-neutral electrical energy provider by 2040.
Through DPU’s membership with the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), staff has been participating in the development of the CFPP, which is a projected 720MW nuclear generating station to be built at the Idaho National Laboratory site using small modular reactor (SMR) technology. As it is being designed, the facility would house up to twelve SMRs developed by NuScale Power, currently rated at sixty megawatts of electric power for a total plant capacity of 720MW. The County’s share would be 11.186 MW.
Prior to signing the Power Sales Contract in April 2018, the following had been accomplished:
- The County participated in the CFPP Project Study Phase and Siting Agreement (also referred to as the fatal flaw analysis). Findings - No fatal flaws were discovered in this phase, clearing the path for continued development.
- DPU surveyed customers on Los Alamos County pursuing nuclear generation. Findings - 73% of residential and 60% of commercial customers agree or strongly agree that Los Alamos should pursue nuclear generation.
- DPU hired a third-party independent contractor to develop an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) that evaluated all of the options to serve the County’s Electric Demand on a Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) basis, whil...
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