Cities Team Up to Build Power Plant

Moving to shore up their energy supplies, eight Southern California cities and agencies may jointly finance construction of a new $180-million power plant in Burbank as part of a proposed power-sharing agreement, officials said Wednesday.

The plant would generate 250 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power about 250,000 homes. Burbank’s existing 50-year-old power plant can generate up to 220 megawatts.

If the California Energy Commission grants the license, the new generator could be up and running by 2004, said Fred Fletcher, assistant general manager of the city’s Department of Water and Power.

“Over the past 10 years, the city has become more dependent on spot prices,” Fletcher said, because the city has been forced to buy power from outside generators. The city now generates only about 15% of its power because the old plant is inefficient and costly to operate.

Burbank officials hope to finance the new plant through the Southern California Public Power Authority, whose 11 municipal members could help pay the planning, construction and operational costs in return for a percentage of the power the plant generates.

Eight of the 11 agencies have expressed interest in the project, Fletcher said. Besides Burbank, they are Pasadena, Glendale, Anaheim, Colton, Riverside, Vernon and the Imperial Irrigation District.

The Burbank and Anaheim city councils voted Tuesday night to enter into a planning agreement with the power authority to build the generator, Fletcher said. Similar votes by the other local governments are pending.

The new plant would be built near the city’s existing power plant on Magnolia Street. If approved, the city would decommission two of the plant’s seven vintage generators--the newest of which opened in the 1960s, Fletcher said.

Plans to build a new generator have been discussed for two years as the city studied its options. But the state’s power crisis has brought new interest. And the state’s time frame for granting the needed permit has been shortened, Fletcher said.

“The state is crying for new power and all the infrastructure is in place so I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want it,” said Steve Homer, project administrator for the power authority.

Claudia Chandler, assistant executive director of the state Energy Commission, said the new fast-track program spawned by the energy crisis cuts the 12-month application process in half.

Despite the quicker process, she said the city still will have to comply with all environmental and other regulations.

“All it does is expedite the process,” Chandler said. “It doesn’t compromise it.”

The proposed plant will generate more power than Burbank needs, Fletcher said, so the extra electricity will be transmitted to the other cities based on the percentage of costs they have agreed to pay.