Fourth Power Project Proposed Since June 97
Energy Commission Asked to Review Plans for Kern County Power Plant
Sacramento- A $500 million power plant is being proposed for a 24-acre site near the town of McKittrick in Kern County. Plans for construction and operation of the 1,050-megawatt project have been brought to the Energy Commission for licensing review.
The 1,050-megawatt project, located approximately 35 miles west of Bakersfield, would be built and operated by La Paloma Generating Company. The natural gas-fired project consists of four combustion turbine generators, four heat recovery generators, and from two to four steam turbines.
Plans for the plant must be reviewed by the California Energy Commission to ensure they comply with provisions of the Warren-Alquist Act and the California Environmental Quality Act before the applicant receives a license to construct and operate the electricity generation facility. Once the plan is deemed complete enough to review, the process takes 12 months.
The La Paloma Generating Project is the fourth proposal brought to the Energy Commission for review since June of last year. Power plant developers ranging from independent entrepreneurial firms to a public/private partnership have sought to license other projects in Sutter, San Bernardino and Contra Costa counties.
These three projects are currently under review:
Additional projects are being proposed, although plans have not yet been filed with the Energy Commission for review. These include:
- High Desert Power Project-Inland Energy and Constellation Energy filed an application for certification of a 680-830 megawatt natural gas-fired merchant power plant at the Southern California International Airport, Victorville, San Bernardino County, in June 1997.
- Sutter Power Project - Calpine Corporation filed an application for certification to develop a 530 megawatt natural gas-fired merchant power plant in Sutter County at the same site as their existing 49.5 megawatt Greenleaf Unit No. 1 gas-fired cogeneration power plant in December, 1997.
- Pittsburg District Energy Facility, a subsidiary of Enron Capital and Trade Resources Corporation - Enron Corporation filed an application to build a 500-megawatt cogeneration project in Pittsburg with the city as a partner in June, 1998.
Information on the New Technologies Account Auction will be available on the California Energy Commission's Web Site at:
- Otay Mesa Power Plant Project - US Generating Inc. proposes to develop a merchant power plant project in the range of 1000 megawatts at Otay Mesa in southern San Diego County near the border with Mexico.
- Pioneer (Livingston) Project - Bock Energy, Merced Irrigation District, Turlock Irrigation District, Foster Farms and General Electric are proposing to develop a 113 megawatt combined cycle power plant adjacent to the Foster Farms processing plant in the City of Livingston in Merced County.
- Sunlaw Cogeneration Partners I Project - Sunlaw Cogeneration Partners I is proposing to develop a natural gas-fired 800 megawatt combined cycle project to be located in the City of Vernon in Los Angeles County.
www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/lapaloma.
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