Farmington adds 18 MW at Bluffview with two 9-MW generators

Farmington has installed two reciprocating internal combustion engine (R.I.C.E.) generator units at the Bluffview Power Plant, adding roughly 18 megawatts of local generation capacity to the Farmington Electric Utility System (FEUS). The move is intended to replace capacity lost when the San Juan Generating Station shuttered and to provide flexible on-demand generation as the utility shifts its resource mix.

Each engine is rated at about 9 megawatts, and a project video noted, "The two engines each generate about nine megawatts of power and are the size of a couple of school buses." The manufacturer named in procurement and permitting records is Wärtsilä (permitting documents list a similar entry as Wartsila W20V34SG), and the equipment supply contract for the engines and auxiliary gear is reported at approximately $13.9 million. The city’s total estimated project cost is about $45 million, with construction contracted to local firm Casey Industrial.

Permitting records filed with the state show the Bluffview facility operating under NSR 2831-M2R1, Title V Permit No. P228-R2, and Acid Rain Permit P228-AR3. The permit materials list detailed energy input numbers for the plant: current hourly input of 455.00 x 10^6 Btu versus a proposed hourly input of 609.20 x 10^6 Btu; current annual input of 3.99 x 10^12 Btu rising to a proposed 5.34 x 10^12 Btu. The permit excerpts also include location details: Section 21, Range 13W, Township 29N in San Juan County at elevation 5,290 feet and UTM East 748,748 meters (Zone 12, WGS 84). Permit tables in the filing contain fragmentary equipment lines and storage entries, including "38500101 Compressor Engine Wartsila W20V34SG" and isolated table fragments listing 90,000 gallons, 2,000 gallons, 7,000 gallons and "TBD 262 kW."

FEUS officials framed the project as part of a broader integrated resource plan that four years earlier called for 30 megawatts of solar, 48 megawatts of combined-cycle capacity and 18 megawatts of RICE generation. The utility has emphasized fuel flexibility: the engines will run on natural gas initially but are designed to accept blends and alternate fuels. Wärtsilä said, "By switching from coal to natural gas, the project aligns with the global trend toward cleaner, lower-carbon fuels." Some reporting credits Wärtsilä with capability to run on biogas and either synthetic methane or synthetic methanol; other reporting lists synthetic methanol specifically. FEUS and Wärtsilä have not provided a single confirmed list of certified alternate fuels for these specific units in the material reviewed.

Farmington contracted Casey Industrial for construction and, according to Adair, "51 contractors are on site and the majority of those working on it are from the local area." Adair also highlighted operational flexibility, saying, "What we like with the RICE engines too is, again, they're very flexible, not only the fuel type. We can start and stop them quite quickly." Wärtsilä equipment delivery is expected by January 2025, while one project source noted an expectation that the RICE units will come online "at the start of October" without specifying a year.

The Bluffview complex is an established combined-cycle natural gas plant producing about 60 MW since it began operation in May 2005, and the RICE units are being added as a compact, fast-start complement to that capacity. For residents, the immediate implications are a local increase in dispatchable generation and local construction jobs; for ratepayers and regulators, the unresolved details to watch include final commissioning dates, the confirmed list of alternate fuels and the permit-level emissions controls. Next steps will be firmed up as equipment deliveries proceed and FEUS publishes final commissioning and operational plans.