A century of service: Idaho Falls Power celebrates 125th Anniversary and new Peaking Plant
Ariel Jensen
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — Idaho Falls Power (IFP) is celebrating two major milestones and invites the community to join them.
IFP is hosting a grand opening of its brand-new Natural Gas 17.5MW Peaking Plant and celebrating its 125th Anniversary. The new peaking plant is a $36-million investment that adds a 17.5-megawatt on-demand power resource that IFP can run anytime wholesale energy markets exceed the cost of operation.
“That hundred and 125 years, we’ve been building complicated projects for a long time, and that’s a skill set that the community should be proud that we have here,” said Stephen Boorman, Interim General Manager for IFP.
It is designed to dispatch electricity during periods of high demand.
This is typically experienced during the hottest days of summer and coldest nights of winter.
The plant gives IFP the ability to generate electricity locally when expenditures on the open wholesale market would otherwise spike.
One of the core goals behind this new plant is to help protect ratepayers from volatile power-market pricing.
Idaho Falls Power has operated its own hydropower system and is now adding local generation capacity.
Customers pay approximately 7 cents per kilowatt hour, which is 50 percent less than the U.S. average.
By generating more of its own electricity, the utility is better positioned to keep monthly rates stable and predictable.
“Our purpose is to have reliable and affordable rates. And those peak times can be really expensive. When you’re buying that power on the market will be able to generate that a lot more of a cost effective manner for our customers,” said Booman.
This afternoon, Dec. 4th, IFP hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house to formally launch the new peaking plant.
The new peaking plant is a $36-million investment that adds a 17.5-megawatt on-demand power resource.
Idaho Falls City Council, acting in its role as the utility’s governing board, approved the construction contract in early 2024.
Engineered Structures, Inc. (ESI), an Idaho-based company, ensured the project remained local in planning and execution.
Our Mayor and council took a political risk to do this. It’s a high-risk project, and we were able to execute on that,” said Boomnan. “It takes great employees. There are a lot of other people, regional partners, contractors; we had a lot of local contractors on this that did a wonderful job. So it takes a village to put one of these together.”
About the Project
The seven Caterpillar (Cat®)-supplied generators are designed to provide electricity during periods of peak demand, keeping costs stable and ensuring consistent, affordable power for Idaho Falls residents.
Currently, Idaho Falls Power operates four dams along the Snake River, supplying roughly one-third of the city’s growing energy needs. With rapid population and commercial expansion since the 1980s, the new plant is a timely and essential investment in local energy independence.
Using clean-burning natural gas, the Peaking Plant will offer lower operating costs and incorporate cutting-edge emissions reduction technology. Thanks to local energy investments, made largely possible by the citizens of this community, Idaho Falls residential customers today pay approximately seven cents per kilowatt hour, half the national average, a legacy the Peaking Plant is designed to protect.
The new Peaking Plant and Clean Energy Research Parkit is located at 2017 E Iona Rd, Idaho Falls, ID 83401