The city of Riverside filed a Small Power Plant Exemption (SPPE) application for its Riverside Energy Resource Center Units 3 & 4 project on March 19, 2008. This proposed gas-fired peaking project has a capacity of approximately 95 megawatts (MW). It is an expansion of the original Riverside Energy Center, an existing 96 MW peaking facility (Docket # 04-SPPE-1) granted a small power plant exemption by the Commission in 2004, which began operating in June 2006. The project will use recycled water for cooling which will be supplied from the city's adjacent wastewater treatment plant.

The Energy Commission's facility certification 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.

Felicia Miller
Siting Project Manager
California Energy Commission
1516 Ninth Street MS-15
Sacramento, CA 95814
tel: 916.654.4640
E-mail: fmiller@energy.state.ca.us

Public Adviser
California Energy Commission
1516 Ninth Street, MS-12
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-654-4489
Toll-Free in California: 1-800-822-6228
E-mail: PAO@energy.state.ca.us

Susanne Garfield-Jones
Media & Public Communications Office
Phone: 916-654-4989
E-mail: mediaoffice@energy.state.ca.us