APS 2011 Annual Report Download - page 33

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produced a tsunami that caused significant damage to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in
Japan. Following these events, the NRC Commissioners launched a two-pronged review of U.S.
nuclear power plant safety. The NRC supported the establishment of an agency task force to conduct
both a near- and long-term analysis of the lessons that can be learned from the situation in Japan. The
near-term task force issued a report on July 12, 2011, and on October 3, 2011, the NRC staff issued a
plan for implementing the near-term task force’s recommendations.
On October 18, 2011, the NRC Commissioners directed the NRC staff to implement, without
delay, the near-term task force recommendations, subject to certain conditions. One such condition is
that the agency should strive to complete and implement lessons learned from the earthquake and
tsunami in Japan within five years. A second condition is that the staff should designate the
recommendation for a rulemaking to address extended loss of offsite power to be completed within 24
to 30 months.
Until further action is taken by the NRC as a result of this event, we cannot predict any
financial or operational impacts on Palo Verde or APS.
Natural Gas and Oil Fueled Generating Facilities
APS has six natural gas power plants located throughout Arizona, consisting of Redhawk,
located near the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station; Ocotillo, located in Tempe; Sundance, located
in Coolidge; West Phoenix, located in southwest Phoenix; Saguaro, located north of Tucson; and
Yucca, located near Yuma. Several of the units at Saguaro and Yucca run on either gas or oil. APS
has one oil only power plant, Douglas, located in the town of Douglas, Arizona. APS owns and
operates each of these plants with the exception of one oil only combustion turbine unit and one oil and
gas steam unit at Yucca that are operated by APS and owned by the Imperial Irrigation District. APS
has a total entitlement from these plants of 3,389 MW. Gas for these plants is acquired through APS’s
hedging program. APS has long-term gas transportation agreements with three different companies,
some of which are effective through 2024. Fuel oil is acquired under short-term purchases delivered
primarily to West Phoenix, where it is distributed to APS’s other oil power plants by truck.
Solar Facilities
To date, APS has begun operation of 50 MW of utility scale solar through its AZ Sun Program,
discussed below. These facilities are owned by APS and are located in multiple locations throughout
Arizona.
Additionally, APS owns and operates more than forty small solar systems around the state.
Together they have the capacity to produce about 5 MW of renewable energy. This fleet of solar
systems includes a 3 MW facility located at the Prescott Airport, a 1 MW facility located at APS’s
Saguaro power plant and 1 MW of small solar in various locations across Arizona. APS is in the final
stages of developing solar photovoltaic distributed energy systems installed as part of the Community
Power Project in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Community Power Project, approved by the ACC on April 1,
2010, is a pilot program through which APS will own, operate and receive energy from approximately
1.5 MW of solar photovoltaic distributed energy systems located within a certain test area in Flagstaff,
Arizona.