LOGAN – At their regular meeting on Oct. 7, the members of the Logan Municipal Council began discussions on the possibility of purchasing an interest in a solar power project in Iron County.
During the workshop portion of that meeting, Mark Montgomery, the director of Logan Light & Power, explained that Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) intends to purchase all the power generated by Fremont Solar LLC when that facility comes online in December of 2027.
As a member of UAMPS, Logan’s proposed share of the yet-to-be-constructed 99 megawatt solar photo-voltaic generation facility with a 49.5 megawatt battery storage system would be 10 megawatts of solar electricity with 5 megawatts of battery storage with a four-hour discharge rate.
The cost of that power would be $35.45 per megawatt hour, with no escalation over the 25-year life of the purchase agreement.
Originally incorporated in 1904, Logan City Light & Power currently operates hydro, natural gas and solar power generation facilities that produce more than 15 megawatts of electricity locally. The utility service also traditionally contracts with regional utilities – including the Utah Associated Municipal Power System (UAMPS) — for additional power as needed.
Recent efforts to increase power contracts though UAMPS have been controversial, however.
Fossil fuels now account for about 64 percent of Logan’s electrical capacity, while renewable sources add 22 percent and market purchases cover 14 percent of city needs.
But two coal-fired resources (the Sunnyside and Hunter plants) are retiring over the next seven years, with a combined loss of 18 mega-watts of power or about 32 percent of Logan’s base load capacity.
Much of that lost power capacity is slated to be replaced with power generated by natural gas, including a 30-year contract to purchase 15 mega-watts of electricity from the Power County Power Project in Idaho.
Since early this year, a local minority of mostly young environmental idealists have loudly opposed any additional city investments in fossil fuels.
In his self-appointed role as the council’s “climate watchdog,” Utah State University professor Patrick Belmont had appeared earlier on Oct. 7 to chide the panel’s members for what he called “turning their backs” on city pledges made in 2016 and 2017 to reduce Logan’s dependency on fossil fuels to provide electricity.
He also cited António Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, asserting that “drastic cuts in methane gas” in this decade were essential in response to climate change.
“Methane makes up 80 percent of natural gas,” Belmont reminded the council members.
The council members took Montgomery’s proposal under advisement without much comment and will likely continuing discussions at their next meeting.