Natural Gas

Idaho Power operates three natural gas-fired power plants. In gas turbines, natural gas is burned and the hot gas produced is directed at turbine blades. This process is like a turbo-prop aircraft engine, but in generation applications, the turbine turns the generator, rather than a propeller. We also have a 5-megawatt (MW) diesel electric generating plant near Salmon, Idaho, which is used primarily for backup in the event of a transmission outage.

  • Langley Gulch came on-line in 2012. It’s a clean, quiet, highly-efficient, combined-cycle combustion turbine. In a combined-cycle natural gas plant, heat from the process is also used to make steam, which spins a separate turbine to generate additional electricity. The plant’s generating capacity ranges from 300 MW in the summer to 330 MW in the winter. Langley Gulch helps integrate intermittent resources, such as wind and solar from projects tied to our system. The plant is located on 137 acres in rural Payette County.
  • The Bennett Mountain Power Plant in Mountain Home was completed in 2005 and has a generating capacity of 172.8 MW.
  • The Danskin Power Plant consists of three natural gas-fired simple cycle combustion turbines and has a generating capacity of 270.9 MW.

Our 2021 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) includes plans for us to convert two coal-fired units at the Bridger Power Plant to natural gas in 2024.