San Diego Council?s Recess Sent Free Turbines to Fresno

Two turbines originally intended to help meet peak power demand beginning this summer in San Diego will instead feed juice into the Fresno area starting in June. This is despite expectations that the San Diego area could suffer supply shortages. ?San Diego passed,? said Tom Dresslar, state attorney general spokesperson, so the turbines went to Kings River. The turbine deal was part of a settlement the California Attorney General?s Office reached with Williams Energy Marketing and Trading. The AG targeted the turbines for San Diego, as well as San Francisco, to ?help alleviate bottlenecks in both areas? power grids and thus increase the reliability of the electricity supply during times of peak demand.? The settlement, announced November 11, 2002, didn?t quite work out that way, however. Tom Blair, deputy director of the city of San Diego?s energy division, said end-of-the-year holidays interfered with the timetable for reaching an agreement with the state because the council was in recess. It just was not possible to execute a power-purchase agreement with the Department of Water Resources (DWR) within the 30 days allowed under the settlement, Blair elaborated?at least not in San Diego. In contrast, the turbines? current proprietor, Kings River Conservation District, the second choice for the turbines, and San Francisco both managed to obtain long-term contracts from DWR by December 31, 2002. Since then, there has been some improvement in transmission and supply in San Diego, but rising demand continues to dog the area, as well as tight generation this summer, according to the California Independent System Operator. To grapple with that forecast, San Diego Gas & Electric is planning to lean heavily on energy conservation and peak pricing to make it through the summer without blackouts ( Circuit , Feb. 11, 2005). Blair, however, downplayed the tenuous supply outlook, noting that the state made the ?same projection last summer? and there were no blackouts. Meanwhile, this coming June, Kings River Conservation District will fire up the two new turbines that will supply 97 MW of peak power for up to 2,500 hours a year, according to Jim Richards, district director of power resources. Instead of feeding San Diego, the generators will fuel the Pacific Gas & Electric system where shortages are not anticipated. Williams supplied the two turbines to the Kings River Conservation District. The two, along with four other units given to San Francisco, were part of a $417 million settlement with California stemming from alleged illegal pricing during the energy crisis.

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San Diego Council?s Recess Sent Free Turbines to Fresno

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