New Power Plant Proposed for Riverside County
Calpine Corp., on a breakneck pace to boost the amount of electricity it produces in California, announced plans Friday to build a major power plant in western Riverside County near the terminus of a hotly contested transmission line.
The plant, the 10th the company has proposed constructing in California, would be in the unincorporated Romoland area between Hemet and Perris, and would supply enough power for about 450,000 homes.
“As a California-based company, we are extremely pleased to, yet again, move forward on a project such as this,” said John King, senior vice president of business development for Calpine, which is based in San Jose. The company has been eager to distance itself from the out-of-state energy suppliers whom Gov. Gray Davis has portrayed as public enemies for their role in California’s energy crisis.
State officials greeted the announcement somewhat warily, noting that Calpine has announced plans before that didn’t pan out. Until the company formally applies for licensing, the California Energy Commission will reserve comment on the plans, spokesman Rob Schlichting said.
“It’s basically a trial balloon,” he said of the announcement.
Calpine officials said they intend to file an application for licensing with the commission in July and to begin construction of the $325-million plant sometime in the middle of next year. They said the plant could be running by 2004.
Greg Lamberg, Calpine’s director of business development, said the company has already held extensive discussions with local officials in Riverside County and has encountered no community opposition.
“We’re finding just the reverse--we’re finding a tremendous level of support in the community,” Lamberg said.
Local officials could not immediately be reached for comment. There has been substantial opposition to another electrical project in the same vicinity, a proposed 500,000-volt transmission line that San Diego Gas & Electric wants to build through southwestern Riverside County.
The line would end at Southern California Edison’s Valley substation in Romoland. Calpine’s proposed Inland Empire Energy Center would be built about half a mile from the substation, on vacant land along California 74 near Interstate 215.
Proximity to the Edison substation--and to a nearby natural gas pipeline--make the location ideal, Lamberg said. Calpine officials said they don’t expect opposition to the SDG&E; transmission line to translate into opposition to their project.
“The reason folks are opposed to that line is that it’s a means for San Diego to import power,” said Calpine spokesman Kent Robertson. “What we’re doing is, we’re building projects to serve the local community. We think it’s kind of an apples-and-oranges comparison.”
The area immediately surrounding the site is industrial, and Lamberg said the company believes the plant will not cast a large “footprint” on the environment. Calpine’s plans call for a 600-megawatt combined cycle plant that burns natural gas to generate electricity. Combined cycle plants, which recycle their heat to make electricity a second time, are considered extremely efficient and far cleaner than older, single cycle plants.
If the plant is licensed and built, it will help cement Calpine’s position as a major player in the California energy market. The company now owns 11 mostly small, geothermal power plants in the state but has plans underway for nine gas-fired plants that would add more than 5,000 megawatts of power, enough to supply about 4 million homes. Three major plants are already under construction in Northern California.
The Southland plant would be the third new generator in Riverside County. Wisvest is building a 520-megawatt plant in Blythe, and there are plans for a smaller, “peaker” plant in that city.
