On December 30, Mission Rock Energy Center, LLC filed an Application for Certification (AFC) to construct and operate an electrical generating facility just west of the city near the Santa Clara Waste Water-Green Compass plant, which exploded in November 2014.
The new energy center facility according to the notice, “would be a natural gas-fired, simple-cycle power plant comprising five combustion turbine generators, with a nominal generating capacity of 255 megawatts (MW). Additionally, Mission Rock would house twenty (20) on-site ion battery units for the storage of electricity, providing an additional 25 MW/100 MWh (25 MW for up to 4 hours) of nominal capacity. The plant would also be fitted with a clutch system enabling synchronized condenser operation to provide voltage (VAR) support to the grid.”
A new 6.6-mile, 230-kV transmission line and a new 2.4-mile, 16-inch-diameter pipeline would run southwest from the Mission Rock Road site to interconnect with the Southern California Gas Company’s (SoCal Gas) pipeline. According to the filing, “Process water for Mission Rock will be supplied by local agribusiness conglomerate, Limoneira Company. Limoneira will provide recycled lemon wash and sanitary sewer wastewater from their packinghouse and worker housing to supply Mission Rock. Limoneira’s wastewater treatment facility produces its recycled water, which will then be delivered to the Mission Rock site via a new 1.7-mile-long pipeline,” a maximum of 170-acre feet of Limoneira recycled water per year.
The water would require a 54-foot tall, 892,000-gallon storage tank to be constructed, sufficient for 32 hours of operation at full capacity.
“Industrial wastewater from cooling tower blow-down and other power plant processes would be discharged to an existing pipeline located along
Shell Road, immediately adjacent to the Mission Rock site,” the Santa Clara Waste Water pipeline that connects to the City of Oxnard recycling plant. The permit with the city was pulled after the SCWW explosion; SCWW was already being questioned by Oxnard officials about the high level of radiation being found in the plant’s wastewater they later found was generated by SCWW.
Mission Rock would provide a resource to balance the variability of renewable resources and satisfy peak energy and capacity needs during high load events. It would also support local electrical grid reliability and provide energy storage technology to meet the need for new and/or replacement local capacity in the Moorpark Subarea of the Big Creek/Ventura local reliability area of Southern California Edison’s (SCE’s) service territory.
The proposed project was docketed by the California Energy Commission February 11 and public agencies asked for comments due April 1.
According to Tovias’ interview with Dubroff, the siting would “also need full city council approval for power lines and a water supply to cool it’s gas-fired turbines” before the project could be approved, although the need for water no longer seems viable with the proposed agreement with Limoneira.
“I think the state or somebody should have informed the City of Santa Paula about this application,” City Councilwoman Ginger Gherardi said Monday.
“We now have one council meeting (March 21) to have any review or discussion of this before the public agency comments are due on April 1.”
And, “I believe that people that live in Santa Paula should have an opportunity to weigh in on this, they haven’t even been told about it…”
Gherardi contacted the CEC Mission Rock project manager regarding the issue, as did Mayor Martin Hernandez.
In a letter to the editor of the Santa Paula Times, Hernandez wrote there will be a brief report on the issue at Monday’s meeting. A representative of Calpine, noted Hernandez, will appear before the council April 4.
The CEC asked a variety of county, state and federal agencies to report by April 1 whether any additional information should be sought from Calpine on its Mission Rock Energy proposal. Reportedly, because it has no jurisdiction over the site, the city was not on the list of those notified. The CEC has extended the deadline to May 1 for city comments.
The community will have a chance to formally weigh in: according to the California Energy Commission, public hearings will be announced at least 10 days in advance of such meetings when they are scheduled. Public comment will also be accepted via the CEC website.
For an overview of the proposed project including potential impacts visit: http://docketpublic.energy.ca.gov/PublicDocuments/15-AFC-02/TN207151-24_20151230T154806_60_Alternatives.pdf
For more information email Mike Monasmith, Senior Project Manager Siting, Transmission and Environmental Protection (STEP) Division California Energy Commission: Mike.Monasmith@energy.ca.gov
