Arizona Public Service plans to convert two units at its Cholla Power Plant in Joseph City from coal to natural gas.
The utility says the project will bring part of the long-running facility back online as Arizona’s electricity demand continues to grow.
The plant is expected to begin operating in 2029 and will generate about 380 megawatts of power — enough for roughly 60,000 homes.
The Cholla plant first came online in 1962 and supplied electricity across the region for decades.
The coal units were fully phased out in March 2025 after federal environmental rules and rising costs made continued operation too expensive.
APS says converting the site to natural gas allows it to keep producing power using existing transmission lines and equipment. The company has not released a cost estimate.
Arizona Corporation Commissioner Kevin Thompson said the project supports grid reliability. He pointed to earlier conversions of the Springerville and Coronado plants.
“Converting Cholla and bringing it back online as a dispatchable generating site is an important step to affordably enhance long-term grid reliability,” Thompson said in a July 2nd statement.
According to APS, the conversion should to create hundreds of construction jobs and several dozen permanent positions. It will also generate local tax revenue.
Construction is expected to begin in 2028, pending approvals.
Earlier this year, the commission also approved the conversions of both Springerville and Coronado Generating Stations from coal to natural gas.
