Energy Commission repels power plants

The Golden Gate Power Project is a 51-megawatt simple cycle power plant, which will be placed at the San Francisco International Airport in San Mateo County.

The project owner, El Paso Merchant Energy, is also proposing a 570 megawatt combined cycle power plant in the same location.

The Energy Commission has received four other proposals from Calpine Energy Corp, which is attempting to install power plants in Newark, Brisbane, San Jose and San Mateo. All four of their proposals failed to meet committee standards in regards to environmental impacts, public health and safety, air quality, hazardous materials and engineering alternative standards required by the Energy Commission.

One site up for grabs in San Mateo is located at the Bayside Coyote Point Park, a heavily used recreation area near the Poplar Creek golf course, where Calpine Energy Corp hopes to build a temporary power plant, which, according to Calpine’s spokesperson Katherine Potter, will leave no trace of its presence after it is removed three years after connected to PG & E substation already present.

“The power infrastructure is already there, we’re able to just plug right in there,” Potter said, “Ideally you’d want to build a power center, but there are only a few places you can build because of infrastructure, and you want to make sure you’re sitting where the environment is less affected. It’s a very long lead time, it takes two years to get through the permitting process on the larger power projects.”

At the proposed sites in San Mateo County natural gas powered single cycle turbines will be brought in on skids or wheels and rolled out three years later.

Single cycle turbines are not as clean and efficient as the larger combined cycle generators which burn 40% less natural gas than most large power plants in use today by natural gas and then using the heat and steam produced to further power turbines.

Potter also said there will be emission control technology, which will have selective catalytic reduction mechanisms, similar to the catalytic converter on a car. “It will reduce nitrogen oxygen emissions,” Potter said.

When asked how much nitrogen would be emitted annually Potter was unable to answer. However, Potter did note that the fifty-foot cement smoke stack, and the emissions control technology would be removed with little impact on the immediate environment.

The single turbines are comprised of four 20-megawatt units, which will fuel 80,000 houses.

On Sept. 6, Governor Davis signed Assembly Bill 970, which established an expedited review of applications for power plants to be put on line with a six-month licensing process, nearly one-fourth of the usual licensing time. An attempt by Davis to avoid summer rolling blackouts, and lessen California’s 20% dependency on out of state energy sources, as well as lessen the already over stressed transmitters running at full capacity.

Both Calpine and the Energy Commission acknowledged the power stations are a Band-Aid solution, and stress the need for long-term power plant proposals.

Yesterday the Energy Commission approved the Moss Landing Power Project with a unanimous vote in Sacramento, giving 1,060 megawatt Moss Landing Power Plant Project in Monterey County final approval.

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