San Juan Generating Station
San Juan Generating Station, located about 15 miles northwest of Farmington,
N.M., is operated by PNM and consists of four coal-fired, pressurized units that
generate about 1,800 gross megawatts of electricity to serve PNM's customer base
and that of eight other owners. It is the seventh-largest coal-fired generating
station in the West. San Juan is PNM's primary generation source, serving 58 percent
of the power needs of PNM customers. Since it went online in 1973, San Juan has made a strong commitment
to the environment by reducing air emissions and improving overall waste management
and water management processes. These efforts have led to its charter membership
in the EPA National Environmental Performance Track and its certification to ISO
14001 requirements. The generating station has a large economic and community
impact in San Juan County. It provides high-paying jobs and its employees are
active in community organizations that support the excellent quality of life in
the area.
Ownership
Units 1 and 2 - PNM: 50 percent
- Tucson
Electric Power: 50 percent
Unit 3
- PNM: 50 percent
- Southern California Public Power Authority: 41.8 percent
- Tri-State
Generation and Transmission Association: 8.2 percent
Unit
4 - PNM: 38.5 percent
- MSR Public Power Agency:
28.8 percent
- City of Anaheim, Calif.: 10 percent
- City of Farmington:
8.5 percent
- Los Alamos County: 7.2 percent
- Utah Associated Municipal
Power Systems: 7 percent
Economic impact
- 435 full-time employees work at San Juan, which has an annual payroll of $25
million.
- The plant is the largest property tax payer in San Juan County,
paying about $6.6 million annually.
- Plant owners pay $49.5 million annually
in royalties and taxes for coal deliveries.
- The plant spends more than
$33 million a year in purchases and contracts.
- San Juan is a key supporter
of the Industrial Process Operator Program at San Juan College in Farmington.
In 2001, the plant donated $600,000 to help start the program, which is designed
to train area residents in power plant operations and prepare them for careers
at the plant.
- The plant donates more than $125,000 per year to a variety
of local nonprofit organizations, including those that focus on education and
the environment.
- The plant is a strong supporter of the San Juan College
Renewable Energy Program and also supports eight scholarships every year offered
through the San Juan College Foundation.
- San Juan Generating Station is
pursuing creation of a community advisory board so that it can be better informed
and responsible to local community concerns.
Environment
- San Juan meets all state and federal regulations for nitrogen oxide, sulfur
dioxide and particulate emissions – and in many cases substantially outperforms
those regulations.
- The plant is a zero-discharge facility, which means
that all water used at the plant is recycled or evaporates. In some cases, water
is reused 10 times before leaving the plant’s stacks or being pumped into
lined, on-site evaporation ponds.
- More than one-fourth of the plant’s
employees are assigned specifically to designing, monitoring or operating the
plant’s extensive environmental controls.
- More than 30 percent of
the plant’s annual capital, operations and maintenance costs are for pollution
control systems, including wastewater management and air emissions systems.
- The
plant’s Environmental Management System is certified to ISO 14001 requirements.
- A
state-of-the-art limestone forced-oxidation system is used for flue gas desulfurization
in the emissions control system. This results in the removal of nearly 85 percent
of all sulfur dioxide produced at the plant. Since 1997 alone, San Juan has reduced
sulfur dioxide emissions by 50 percent.
- In 2002, San Juan contracted with
Phoenix Cement Company to sell between 150,000 and 300,000 tons of fly ash to
recycle for use in cement.
- The plant is a 2002 finalist for the Edison
Award, an industry award for excellent and innovation.
- In 2001, San Juan
donated $100,000 to the federal Bureau of Reclamation for the study, design and
construction of a migratory fish ladder for the endangered Colorado pike minnow
and razorback sucker in the San Juan River.
- In December 2000, San Juan
was one of only two coal-fired generating plants to be recognized as a charter
member of the EPA National Environmental Performance Track.
Latest San Juan TRI report
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