For the communities of Joseph City, Holbrook, and Navajo County, the Cholla Power Plant has been a fixture for decades. Last week, they got word that it isn't going anywhere.
Arizona Public Service (APS) announced it will convert two units at the Cholla Power Plant to natural gas, breathing new life into a facility that had been winding down its coal operations for years.
The project is expected to generate approximately 380 megawatts of electricity, enough to power around 61,000 Arizona homes, as suggested by Senator Wendy Rogers (R-AZ), while creating hundreds of construction jobs and dozens of permanent positions for families across northeastern Arizona.
Rogers, who represents the area, welcomed the news enthusiastically. She attributed the plant's previous decline to what she described as years of anti-coal policies under the Obama and Biden administrations, and credited President Donald Trump's energy priorities with helping reverse course.
"Radical left administrations spent years waging a war on reliable American energy that cost rural Arizona jobs and forced dependable coal plants like Cholla into retirement," she said. "President Trump's America First energy policies are helping turn the tide."
Arizona's Communities
To add, Rogers said the conversion represents more than an energy decision; it's an economic lifeline for rural communities that bore the brunt of the plant's earlier decline.
"Instead of letting Cholla become another abandoned power plant, APS is giving it a second life," she said, adding that the project proves Arizona doesn't have to choose between economic growth and energy reliability.
APS Vice President of Generation Johnny Penrod echoed the significance of the announcement for surrounding communities. "Cholla has been foundational to Arizona's energy grid," he said, noting that repurposing the plant for natural gas allows the company to build on that legacy while continuing to support the communities that have long depended on it.
Construction is expected to begin in 2028, with the converted units coming online in 2029. APS, which serves roughly 1.5 million homes and businesses across 11 Arizona counties, will continue engineering, permitting, and community outreach in the meantime.
