Coronado Generating Station structure falls

By Karen Francis
Staff writer

ST. JOHNS, Ariz. — A spokesman for Salt River Project, which owns the Coronado Generating Station near St. Johns, confirmed that a structure failure occurred at CGS Unit 2 at approximately 7:20 a.m. on Sept. 12.

Jeff Lane, spokesman for SRP, said that a 15-foot long duct structure, which runs between the chimney and the pollution control equipment, fell down this morning.

“It was about 20 feet up in the air when it came down,” he said.

Lane said that there were no injuries and no explosion.

He also said that the 206 employees at CGS would not be affected and will continue working for the time being.

The CGS facility helps to provide energy for more than 925,000 customers in the Phoenix metropolitan area. There are two units at the facility. Unit 1 remains in operation but Unit 2 is not in service while the company conducts an investigation into the structure failure.

The cause of the structure failure is unknown. Unit 2 is a 384 megawatt unit that was completed in 1980.

CGS is a coal-fired generating station owned and operated by SRP which is one of the largest providers of water and power to the Phoenix metropolitan area.