Carlsbad Energy Center LLC proposes to develop a natural gas-fired generating facility in the City of Carlsbad in San Diego County, California. The proposed Carlsbad project will be a fast-start high-efficiency, combined-cycle facility that will support San Diego Gas & Electric's local load and provide overall system reliability.

Carlsbad Energy Center LLC (the Applicant), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc., is proposing to develop the Carlsbad Project to meet the electrical resource needs as defined by San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E). This includes contributing to electricity reserves that will ensure a reliable energy supply and local and regional electrical transmission grid support in San Diego County and the southern California region.

Carlsbad Project will be a 558 MW gross combined-cycle generating facility configured using two units with one natural-gas-fired combustion turbine and one steam turbine per or unit.

The approximately 23-acre Carlsbad Project site is located in the city of Carlsbad, in San Diego County in an area zoned Public Utility, which specifically allows electrical generation and transmission facilities.

As part of the Carlsbad Project, existing steam boiler Units 1, 2, and 3 at the Encina Power Station will be retired. The retirements will occur upon the successful commercial operations of the new Carlsbad Project generating units. The retirements will create substantial environmental benefits, including permanent air emission reductions from the boiler units; elimination of the 225 million gallons per day of cooling water (seawater) intake capacity for Units 1-3 and the resulting decrease in impingement and entrainment of marine organisms attributed to those unit's cooling water flow; cessation of discharge of wastewaters to the Pacific Ocean from Units 1-3; and elimination of the use of potable water attributed to the existing operation of Units 1-3.

The Energy Commission's facility certifications process carefully examines public health and safety, environmental impacts and engineering aspects of proposed power plants and all related facilities such as electric transmission lines, natural gas pipelines, etc. The Energy Commission is the lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and has a certified regulatory program under CEQA. Under its certified program, the Energy Commission is exempt from having to prepare an environmental impact report. Its certified program, however, does require environmental analysis of the project, including an analysis of alternatives and mitigation measures to minimize any significant adverse effect the project may have on the environment. Because the project will interconnect with Western's high voltage transmission line, the review will be completed jointly with Western, the federal lead agency for project.