The power plant is coming down! A new one is going up...
The San Diego Union Tribune is reporting today that the Carlsbad City Council approved a landmark
deal Tuesday that officials said will help solve the region’s energy needs
while ridding coastal North County of a notorious eyesore: the 60-year-old
Encina Power Station, right smack dab there on the beach at Terramar reef. The agreement allows NRG Energy to replace Encina and its
400-foot cooling tower with a more environmentally-friendly and less
conspicuous 90-foot-tall “peaker” plant, and requires NRG to tear Encina down
when the new plant opens sometime in 2017.
City officials said the deal, which
came together quickly during the last few months, was prompted primarily by the
unexpected retirement last June of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station,
which had supplied much of the region’s power. The closure of San Onofre
boosted San Diego Gas & Electric’s interest in buying power from a new
plant in Carlsbad. The public utility, which also signed off on Tuesday’s
agreement, had previously balked at proposals for new gas-powered plants on the
Encina site. Carlsbad officials and local environmental groups had also fought
hard against a new plant near the coast, lobbying for the site to be cleared
for recreational and commercial uses once the Encina plant shuts down. Carlsbad
City Councilman Mark Packard said Tuesday that city leaders shifted gears this
winter after realizing it was inevitable that Carlsbad would have some sort of
power plant after Encina closes. In 2012, the city unsuccessfully appealed the
California Energy Commission’s approval of a larger NRG project than the peaker
plant, and lost again when it took that fight to the state Supreme Court last
year. “This was the best compromise that could be reached for all sides,”
Packard said. “A new power plant was going to be built on the Carlsbad site.” Councilwoman
Lorraine Wood agreed. “It’s a win, win, win situation,” she said. Officials from NRG and SDG&E offered similar sentiments.
Hopefully the new plant located on the freeway- about 1/4 mile from the old power plant on the beach, will blend in with the surroundings- kind of like the Solar Turbines operation at Lindbergh Field. Jim Avery, senior vice
president of supply for SDG&E, praised all three parties for “incredibly
fast” negotiations and for striking a deal that will help supply the region
with much-needed power. He said the utility shifted its position because of San
Onofre. “The biggest obstacle we ran
into was San Onofre being decommissioned at least 10 years earlier than
expected,” he said. John Chillemi, NRG’s west region president, outlined all
the benefits of the deal for the city on Tuesday night during a long slide show
presentation. In addition to aesthetics, they include less pollution, less
noise and an end to the use of ocean water in the process of generating power.
The new plant will instead use reclaimed sewer water for cooling.
The city will
get 60 acres of land from the Encina site. The agreement also includes
relocating SDG&E’s North Coast Service Center on Cannon Road within the
next decade, freeing up another 16 acres that will be turned over to the city. That
part of the deal hinges on an alternate site being found, but Carlsbad gets $10
million in damages if the service center stays where it is. And if Encina
continues operating into 2018, NRG must pay the city “liquidated damages”
between $3.6 million and $12 million per year, depending on the amount of power
generated. NRG would pay for the relocation of the service center and the
teardown of Encina, with no cost to ratepayers, city officials said. The
council, which approved the deal 3-0 with Mayor Matt Hall and Councilwoman
Farrah Douglas absent, was warned by city officials that rejecting it could
revive the larger plant NRG had wanted before. Assistant City Manager Gary T.
Barberio said NRG would probably have tried to negotiate a deal to sell power
from that plant to Southern California Edison if Carlsbad had balked. On
Tuesday, the council was also encouraged to approve the pact by the Carlsbad
Chamber of Commerce, labor unions whose workers would build the plant and the
Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation. Two residents and the Sierra Club opposed the
agreement, urging the city to hold out for its longtime goal of having no power
plant on the site. “This is a much-improved option, but it’s still a power
plant on the coastline,” said Terramar resident Kerry Siekmann. “Our coast is a
precious jewel.” In response, council members said the agreement would free up
many acres of coastline for recreational and commercial uses.
