Idaho Power is committed to responsible environmental stewardship. Environmental decisions are made with consideration of the impact on cost to customers and our ability to reliably serve our customers. Read about Idaho Power’s path away from coal and efforts to reduce emissions.

Coal powers three plants Idaho Power co-owns: the Jim Bridger Power Plant in Wyoming, the Boardman Coal Plant in Oregon and the North Valmy Generating Station in Nevada. These facilities provide reliable electricity while following some of the strictest standards for protecting the environment.

These plants meet all state and federal emission limits. Plant design features, fuel supply and plant operating practices play a role in controlling air pollutants that could be emitted. Idaho Power uses only low-sulfur coal, which reduces sulfur dioxide emissions. Additionally, at Bridger and North Valmy Unit 2, scrubbers remove sulfur dioxide after the coal is burned.

Electrostatic precipitators, or baghouses, prevent more than 99% of fly ash from reaching the atmosphere. Some recycled fly ash is used for concrete and road construction material and as fill to prevent soil erosion.

Comprehensive ecological programs monitor impact on soils, plants, waterfowl, birds of prey and fish in the area.

The North Valmy Generating Station near Battle Mountain, Nevada, is co-owned by Idaho Power and NV Energy. Both companies own 50% of the plant; NV Energy is the operating partner. Idaho Power ended its participation in North Valmy unit 1 in 2019 and plans to exit unit 2 by 2025. That generator continues to provide up to 145 MW of energy for Idaho Power customers.

The Boardman plant is scheduled to cease coal-fired operations in 2020. Idaho Power owns 10% of this plant, and Portland General Electric owns the rest. Idaho Power’s share of the plant capacity is 57.5 megawatts (MW).

The Jim Bridger plant, near Rock Springs, Wyoming, is owned by Idaho Power (one-third) and PacifiCorp (two-thirds). Coal is delivered to the plant by an overland conveyer from the adjacent Bridger Mine or by train and truck.

Idaho Power’s share of the plant’s capacity is 704 MW. Idaho Power is working with PacifiCorp and regulators to explore options for continuing to reduce emissions from the plant, including possibly exiting participation in some of Jim Bridger’s four units.

Idaho Power operates three natural gas-fired power plants. When natural gas is burned, the hot, compressed exhaust gases expand through a turbine to generate electricity. 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.

In a combined-cycle natural gas plant like our Langley Gulch Power Plant, heat from the process is also used to make steam, which spins a separate turbine to generate additional electricity.

Langley Gulch, our newest power plant, came on-line in 2012. It’s a clean, quiet, highly-efficient, combined-cycle combustion turbine. 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.

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 164-MW Bennett Mountain Power Plant in Mountain Home was completed in 2005.

Both Bennett Mountain and Danskin plants are “peaking” resources, used primarily for meeting short-duration demands for electricity during hot summer afternoons when air conditioning and irrigation loads reach their highest point.

The 261-MW Danskin Power Plant consists of three natural gas-fired simple cycle combustion turbines—one, 171-MW unit and two, 45-MW units.