The Navajo Generating Station permanently shut down its three 800-megawatt electric generating units after it burned the last of its coal on Monday, leaving a 45-year legacy of producing power.
The plant officially went offline at 12:09 p.m. after Fred Larson, a shift supervisor, opened the Unit 2 breakers, said NGS spokesman George Hardeen, who was in the control room all morning on Nov. 18.
“Rather than sad, the guys in the control room kept the mood high,” Hardeen told the Navajo Times Monday afternoon. “They turned a bad situation into a good situation. And they even told jokes.”
The units were expected to completely shut down last week around Thursday, but it took longer than expected. Instead, Unit 1 (north, near the railway loop) went back online after it went offline last weekend...