CEC Gives Green Light to Energy Center

HAYWARD, CA-The California Energy Commission has licensed Hayward’s 600-megawatt Russell City Energy Center but Calpine Corp. refuses to the develop the facility unless it secures a power contract.

Governor Gray Davis announced this week that the California Energy Commission approved the licensing of the Russell City Energy Center unanimously.

“The Russell City Energy Center will help us keep power flowing in years to come as the economy grows and the demand for electricity expands,” Gov. Davis says. “This facility is necessary to improve energy reliability in the Bay Area.”

Calpine had planned to begin construction on the 600-megawatt, combined-cycle, natural gas-fired facility in the spring of 2003. Following this schedule, the power plant was expected to begin commercial operation in the summer of 2005.

The project is planned for a 14.7-acre site in Hayward at the corner of Enterprise and Whitesell streets, adjacent to the Hayward Shoreline area. Plans call for two combustion-turbine generators teamed with two heat-recovery steam generators and a condensing steam-turbine generator to produce 600 megawatts.

However, he project, which will cost an estimated $300 million to $400 million, has been put on hold indefinitely. Calpine says it will not begin building a new plant without power purchasing contracts.