For immediate release: May 24, 2000
Media Contact: Claudia Chandler -- 916 654-4989
Proposed Power Projects - An Overview
Update on Energy Commission's Review of California Power Projects
Sacramento - The California Energy Commission has approved five power plant projects since the State's electricity industry was restructured in March 1998. Another 11 electricity generating projects are currently being considered for licensing by the Commission, which has exclusive jurisdiction in the State to certify thermal power plants that generate 50 megawatts or more.
Power Plants Recently Approved
- Delta Energy Center - a $450 million, 880-megawatt, natural gas-fired, combined cycle facility will be located on an undeveloped 20-acre parcel at the Dow Chemical Company plant, northwest of the adjacent Delta Diablo Sanitation District treatment facility in the City of Pittsburg. The expected completion date for this project is July 2002.
- High Desert - a $350 million, 700-megawatt natural gas-fueled electricity generation power plant is to be built on a 25-acre site within the northwest corner of the Southern California Logistics Airport, formerly the George Air Force Base, in the City of Victorville, San Bernardino County. The expected completion date for this project is Winter 2002.
- La Paloma - a $730 million, 1,048-megawatt natural gas-fired, combined cycle power generating facility is to be constructed 40 miles west of Bakersfield, approximately two miles east of the unincorporated community of McKittrick, Kern County. The expected completion date for this project is August 2001.
- Los Medanos Energy Center - formerly known as the Pittsburg District Energy Facility project, this $300 million, 500-megawatt electric generation facility would be located on 12 acres on the northwest corner of property owned by USS-Posco Industries on East 3rd Street in the City of Pittsburg, Contra Costa County. The project should start producing power in July 2001.
- Sutter Power Project - a $300 million, 550-megawatt natural gas-fired, combined cycle plant is being built adjacent to the Calpine's Greenleaf Unit No. 1 facility on South Township Road near Yuba City, Sutter County. The project is expected to come on line September 2001.
Power Plants Presently Under Review
The California Energy Commission is presently reviewing 11 additional proposed electricity generation projects.
Before a potential power plant can be approved, it must undergo a strenuous 12-month review to ensure that the project complies with provisions of the Warren-Alquist Act and the California Environmental Quality Act. Issues examined during the year-long proceeding include public health and safety, air and water quality, hazardous materials, environmental impacts, land use, and engineering design.
The siting process breaks roughly into four parts. Once the Energy Commission decides an application is detailed enough to begin study, the staff conducts discovery and analysis before drafting a Preliminary Staff Assessment of the project. Concerns highlighted by this document are then explored in a series of staff workshops in which other agencies, the applicant and the general public can present information. The staff then prepares a Final Staff Assessment, which is typically published about six months into the siting process.
Once the Final Staff Assessment is completed, an Energy Commission Siting Committee takes responsibility for all hearings and related proceedings on the proposed facility. Again the Energy Commission seeks active public participation. Based on the evidentiary record and public comment, the Committee prepares a Presiding Member's Proposed Decision. Only after additional hearings and public conferences on this document does the Committee formulate its final recommendations. These are considered by the full Commission, which must vote to approve or reject the application at an Energy Commission Business Meeting.
Additional power plant proposals presently being reviewed by the Energy Commission include these projects, listed with the cities or counties in which they are planned, their anticipated size, cost, and the date the project application review began.
- Blythe Energy Power Plant - a $300 million, 520-megawatt, natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant that would include a 15-acre site for its main power facility. This project will be located on privately-owned lands located near Interstate 10 and the Blythe Airport, approximately five miles west of the City of Blythe, Riverside County. (Review start date: March 1999)
- Contra Costa Power Plant - a $300 million, 530-megawatt natural gas-fired, combined cycle facility to be located within the existing Contra Costa Power Plant complex in Contra Costa, near the City of Antioch. (Review start date: May 2000)
- Elk Hills Power Plant - a $300 million, 500-megawatt, natural gas-fired, combined cycle, electricity generating facility to be built approximately 25 miles west of the City of Bakersfield in Kern County. (Review start date: June 1999)
- Metcalf Energy Center - a $300 million, 600-megawatt power plant proposed for a site one-half mile west of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Metcalf substation, south of San Jose in Santa Clara County. (Review start date: June 1999)
- Moss Landing Power Plant Project - a $500 million, 1060-megawatt, natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant to be located at the existing Moss Landing Power Project at the intersection of Highway 1 and Dolan Road, east of the community of Moss Landing, near the Moss Landing Harbor in Monterey County. (Review start date: August 1999)
- Mountainview Power Plant Project - a $600 million, 1056-megawatt gas-fired combined cycle power plant to be located on a 16.3-acre site at the existing San Bernardino power plant, near the corner of San Bernardino Avenue and Mountainview Avenue, in an unincorporated section of San Bernardino County. (Review start date: May 2000)
- Otay Mesa Power Project - a $300 million, 510-megawatt generating project proposed for construction on an undeveloped 15-acre site in western San Diego County. The location is approximately 1.5 miles north of the border between Mexico and the U.S. (Review start date: October 1999)
- Pastoria Energy Facility - a $450 million, 750-megawatt natural gas-fired, combined cycle generating facility proposed for an undeveloped site at Tejon Ranch. The proposed 30-acre location is adjacent to an existing gravel quarry approximately 30 miles south of Bakersfield, Kern County. (Review start date: January 2000)
- Sunrise Cogeneration and Power Project, Kern County - a $250 million, 320-megawatt natural gas-fired cogeneration power plant to produce electricity and steam for thermally enhanced oil recovery, is to be located approximately 35 miles southwest of Bakersfield, three miles northwest of Fellows, and 2.5 miles south of Derby Acres, Kern County. (Review start date: February 1999)
- Three Mountain Power Project - a $300 million, 500-megawatt, natural gas-fired, combined cycle power plant will be located approximately one mile northeast of Burney and 45 miles east of Redding, Shasta County. (Review start date: June 1999)
- Western Midway-Sunset Power Project - a $300 million, 500-megawatt, combined cycle, natural gas-fired electricity generating facility to be located near Derby Acres on a ten-acre site adjacent to the existing 225-megawatt Midway Sunset Cogeneration power plant approximately 40 miles west of Bakersfield, Kern County. (Review start date: March 2000)
Information about current and anticipated applications for power plant licensing is available on the Energy Commission's Web Site located at:
For information concerning public participation in the Energy Commission's siting process, contact the Commission's Public Advisor, Roberta Mendonca, at (916) 654-4489, toll free at (800) 822-6228, or by e-mail at pao@energy.state.ca.us.
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