SD U-T Article: Power plant may be running down

October 16, 2009 at 10:11 AM

Power plant may be running down
Half of generators to lose active status
By Tanya Sierra
Union-Tribune Staff Writer

2:00 a.m. October 15, 2009
The South Bay Power Plant will not see the “must run” status for two of its four generators extended, according to an ISO official. - John Gibbins / Union-Tribune
OVERVIEW

Background: Chula Vista officials have been yearning for the removal of the South Bay Power Plant, which dominates the city's coastal skyline.

What's changing: The state's Independent System Operator said this week that two of the four generators at the South Bay Power Plant will be decommissioned by the end of the year.

The future: Local officials are hopeful the plant is on the brink of becoming unnecessary. They are looking at a possible decommission date of May 1.

CHULA VISTA — The South Bay Power Plant, which Chula Vista officials have sought to remove from the city's waterfront for years, will soon be halfway to decommissioned status, according to the state's Independent System Operator.

In an Oct. 9 letter to Dynegy, which leases and operates the 49-year-old facility from the San Diego Unified Port District, an ISO official said the agency will not extend the plant's “must run” status on two of its four generators.

Permission to operate two of the generators “will terminate at midnight as of Dec. 31, 2009,” the letter states.

The two remaining generators provide emergency power during peak use. That power is supposed to be for San Diego County residents, but Chula Vista Councilman Steve Castaneda, a leader in the movement to shut down the plant, said it is not.

“The power that the South Bay Power Plant generates is going to Los Angeles and not San Diego,” Castaneda said.

ISO officials said it is hard to determine where the energy goes.

“Chances are it's being consumed locally most of the time,” said Gregg Fishman, a spokesman for the ISO, a nonprofit corporation that manages the statewide power supply.

Calls to Dynegy were not returned...Continue to Full article