Encina's owners submit Carlsbad power plant proposal

By: BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Thursday, September 20, 2007 12:33 AM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD -- The owner of the massive power plant along Carlsbad's coast has submitted plans to the state Energy Commission to build a smaller, 520-megawatt plant on the eastern edge of its property line.

Ultimately, NRG Energy wants to demolish its current, 965-megawatt facility, which includes five aging power generators and a 400-foot-tall smokestack, company environmental director Tim Hemig said Wednesday.

But that won't happen right away. The new proposal, which was submitted to the state Friday, is just the first phase of a two-part site renovation that may take many years to complete, he said.

Adam Gottlieb, spokesman for the state Energy Commission, confirmed Wednesday that the agency had received the company's application and is starting to examine it.

"We're at the beginning stages," he said, adding that he didn't have a timeline on how long the process would take.

Hemig said his power company expects the state review of the application to last 12 months. If the state commission's five-member board approves the plan, construction on the first phase could begin in late 2008 and the new equipment could begin producing energy in 2010, he said.

"It's modern technology, very clean and very efficient," he added, commenting that there will be two sets of generators -- one running on natural gas and one using heat from the first set of generators to run steam-powered turbines.

Capable of generating enough power to supply about 416,000 homes, the new equipment would replace the current facility's two oldest generators, which date to the 1950s. During the second phase of the proposed renovation effort, the remaining three units, which date to the 1970s, would be replaced, Hemig said.

The company hasn't committed to a start date for the second phase of the work, he added. Since all five generators are housed within one huge concrete structure, nothing will be torn down during the first phase of the project, he said.

Carlsbad officials said Wednesday that they are keenly interested in the second phase of the project.

"When the (existing) plant is removed, of course, that opens up that whole area to recreation and a hotel site," Mayor Bud Lewis said.

Eventually, up to two-thirds of the 94-acre site -- the most desirable western portions along Carlsbad Boulevard -- could be available for other projects, Hemig said. The new equipment will go in a back area between the railroad tracks and Interstate 5. It will have a smokestack, but the stack will be a quarter of the size of the existing one -- about 100 feet tall, Hemig said. The tower will be set in an area that is about 30 feet below the surrounding landscape, he added.

"It's basically not there, it doesn't impact the view shed," he said.

Carlsbad's administrative services director, Jim Elliott, said city officials will meet with state Energy Commission staff next week, and added that the proposal has its benefits and its downsides.

Among the positives is the huge amount of revenue that the proposed renovation could generate from the power plant improvements and the development of the coastal area, he said.

"The property tax alone (for the new electricity-generating area) will be substantial," he said, adding that he hasn't seen the figures yet, but estimates it's in the millions.

"Open the negative side, it's an intensification of an industrial use on coastal Carlsbad and that's going to create a lot of (public) interest," Elliott said.

When NRG Energy announced months ago that it was considering the project, city officials were initially concerned about what it might do to a desalination plant that is proposed share part of the power station site.

However, its developers have recently told the city that their drinking water-production plant is not in jeopardy if the first phase of the power plant renovation goes through, the mayor said.

"They say they have it all figured out how they're going to handle that," he said.

The conflict between the two projects is over a water intake pipe. The current Encina plant uses seawater to cool its power-generating equipment, but the new plant will use an air-cooling system so it won't need the pipe. The desalination plant proponents want the seawater pipe to remain in operation because they plan to process the seawater it sucks in and turn it into drinking water.

-- Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.