Edison Opens Redlands Power Plant

Anticipating another summer of record electricity demand, Southern California Edison turned on the lights Friday at the first major power plant built in the Los Angeles area in three decades.

The 1,054-megawatt power plant in Redlands, which uses natural gas and state-of-the-art technology to create enough electricity to serve about 685,000 typical homes, comes as the Southland braces for a season in which blackouts remain a threat.

“When we get up in the morning, walk down the hall and flip the switch, you just automatically assume that something’s going to happen,” Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) said at a dedication ceremony in front of the hulking facility. “We’re going to make certain that that switch works as we continue to grow.”

California’s aging power plants don’t pump out enough juice to meet demand when the summer heat sends residents into an air-conditioning frenzy. Large amounts of electricity must be brought in from other Western states.

This summer, California should be able to round up more than enough electrons to keep the lights on, given normal weather conditions and smooth operation of the state’s power plants and transmission lines, the state electricity grid operator said this week.

But extremely hot weather combined with equipment breakdowns could result in blackouts in Southern California, the California Independent System Operator said.

The prediction doesn’t include the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which isn’t part of the Cal-ISO grid and has plenty of power for its customers.

Last year the forecast was similar, but a hot July day and transmission problems resulted in rotating blackouts for some Southern California Edison customers.

The new Edison plant, called Mountainview, will provide an additional cushion of electricity, help the state keep up with growing needs and unclog some of California’s cluttered power lines that bring electricity long distances, said Cal-ISO spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle.

“Just like the freeways are congested, so too are the power lines. So this strengthens the grid,” she said. “Our appetite for electricity is growing 1,000 megawatts a year. That’s the size of two major-sized power plants” -- or just one plant the size of Mountainview.

Its opening came two days after San Diego Gas & Electric Co. dedicated the 550-megawatt Palomar Energy Center in Escondido.

Mountainview, which has been undergoing testing for several weeks, has a prime location in the Inland Empire, the fastest-growing urban area in the U.S.

“You cannot provide electricity by importing all of your power from other states,” said John Bryson, chief executive of Edison International, parent of the Rosemead-based utility. “You absolutely must have some of it where the people are.”

Southern California Edison took over Mountainview in 2004 after a previous owner abandoned construction. Uncertainty caused by the state’s 2000-01 energy crisis and the subsequent collapse of electricity prices caused developers to cancel or postpone building several power plants in California.

As those projects disappeared, many older plants were retired, including Edison’s giant Mohave facility. The 1,580-megawatt, coal-fueled plant was shut down Jan. 1 because of pollution and other problems.

“Some of us get better with age. But with power plants, they tend to get a little rusty,” said Jan Smutny-Jones, executive director of the Independent Energy Producers Assn. He thinks that the state grid will improve as old plants are renovated and new energy-efficient plants are built.

But members of Smutny-Jones’ association were unhappy that Edison was allowed to build the plant rather than buy electricity from independent generators at rates that the trade group contends would be cheaper for the utility’s customers.

Edison has been secretive about how much it spent on Mountainview and how much the electricity will cost. Industry estimates have placed the cost of the power plant at more than $750 million.

“There’s no way of knowing whether this was the best rate they could have got,” Smutny-Jones said.

Edison said Mountainview electricity would be less costly than power produced by older plants.

Environmentalists were generally pleased because the new power plant pollutes less than older facilities. Mountainview’s turbines are able to produce a kilowatt of electricity using less than 7,000 British thermal units of natural gas, compared with 10,000 or more for older plants, Edison said.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s a baby step because there’s more that they could be doing,” said V. John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency & Renewable Technologies. “Gas generators, even clean gas generators, have more greenhouse pollution than renewables.”

Bryson said Mountainview was only one piece of the solution to the state’s energy challenges.

“This plant, in itself, can’t do that,” Bryson said. “This has to be a part of a larger network.”