The Sunrise Power Project is located approximately 35 miles southwest of Bakersfield, and one mile southwest of the intersection of State Route 33 and Shale Road in Kern County. The original Sunrise Cogeneration and Power Project application for certification was filed with the Energy Commission in 1998 for a cogeneration facility that would generate electricity for sale and produce steam for use in the adjacent oilfields in thermally-enhanced oil recovery processes. In September 2000, the applicant modified the cogeneration project to a simple-cycle peaking power project ("Sunrise Power Project") to deliver 320 MW of power for the peak demand of summer 2001. The simple-cycle Sunrise Power Project was certified on December 6, 2000, construction began on December 7, 2000, and commercial operation commenced on June 26, 2001.

On May 14, 2001, the Sunrise Power Company filed a petition to convert the simple-cycle power plant to a combined-cycle power plant (aka "Sunrise II"). This expansion will add approximately 265 MW of generating capacity, resulting in a nominal 585 MW combined-cycle power plant. In accordance with Executive Order D-25-01 of the Governor of the State of California, dated February 8, 2001, the petition was processed as a project amendment rather than as a new application for certification. The Energy Commission approved the petition on November 19, 2001, and construction on Sunrise II commenced on December 21, 2001.

Sunrise II will include two duct-fired heat recovery steam generators (HRSG), one 265 MW steam turbine generator (STG), an anhydrous ammonia selective catalytic reduction system to control air emissions, an evaporative condenser cooling tower system, a 15.5 mile water line, an expansion of the existing power plant site, and injection wells for wastewater disposal. The conversion to combined-cycle operations will provide baseload and peaking power up to 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Both generating and fuel efficiencies will be substantially improved through combined-cycle operations by more complete utilization of the combustion turbine generator's hot gases to generate steam in the HRSGs for added steam cycles and increased electrical output from the new STG.

Page Updated: November 17, 2003