Calpine unveils energy efficiency measures at new Otay Mesa Energy Center

15 December 2009

Calpine Corporation has initiated commercial operations at its new Otay Mesa Energy Center (OMEC) near San Diego, California.

OMEC is a combined-cycle power plant, fueled by natural gas and fitted with air emissions control technology. In addition, in a first-of-its-kind programme, Calpine retrofited older marine vessels and sanitation vehicles with improved emission control technology in order to generate mobile emissions credits. These permanently retired emissions more than offset emissions from the plant, the company said.

The facility also is the largest air cooled power plant in the State of California, conserving water by eliminating the need to use ground or potable municipal water to cool recirculated steam.

‘The Otay Mesa Energy Center demonstrates Calpine’s continuing commitment to developing sustainable energy solutions for the people of California,’ said Calpine president and CEO Jack Fusco. ‘We are excited about this and our future projects in this great state and look forward to breaking ground on two other facilities, the Russell City Energy Center in Hayward and the expansion of Los Esteros Energy Center in Northern California.’
The plant, with a capacity of almost 600MW, began commercial operation in October of this year and is generating electric power for customers of San Diego Gas & Electric in the region.

‘Advanced technology power plants such as the Otay Mesa Energy Center play a critical role in meeting our demand for reliable sources of energy,’ said State Senator Christine Kehoe. ‘In addition, this project represents an example of a private company working with local labor unions to create good jobs for workers in our region.’

Calpine has built and operated power plants in the State of California for 25 years. The Otay Mesa Energy Center will increase Calpine’s California portfolio to 38 power plants and more than 5,800MW including 725MW of geothermal energy. Calpine’s geothermal facilities at The Geysers supply about 20 percent of California’s renewable electric generation. Taken as a whole, Calpine’s projects produce enough electricity to satisfy the power needs of more than six million

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Tags: combined-cycle, energy efficiency

This story was published on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 1:10 pm and is filed under North America, companies, energy efficiency. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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