The proposed project’s natural gas-fired, combined-cycle generating equipment will be supplemented with a solar thermal generating equipment.
The California Energy Commission unanimously approved the construction of the proposed 570-megawatt Palmdale hybrid power plant in Los Angeles County, which will integrate solar thermal technology in the project’s natural gas-fired system.
The project is being proposed by the city of Palmdale, and would be located on a 333-acre industrial site located in the northern part of the city. The site is part of a 613.4-acre property of the city.
The hybrid plant will create an important source of electricity in the Antelope Valley and will strengthen the electric grid throughout the region.
The approval, marked by a 4-0 vote by the commission, puts to a close the issues raised in a March evidentiary hearing about the project’s possible generation of pollutants, emissions, and health impacts.
In particular, concerns were initially raised about allowing the developers to pave roads to generate emission reduction credits, to offset the project’s emissions – a process allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency in the past as mentioned during the evidentiary hearing.
The commission ruled that the project will have no significant impacts on the environment and complies with all applicable laws and standards. The deciding panel resolved that the environmental impact assessment required by the California Environmental Quality Act and complied with by the project is adequate to merit approval.
The proposed project’s natural gas-fired, combined-cycle generating equipment will be supplemented with a solar thermal generating equipment.
The combined-cycle equipment will use two natural gas-fired combustion turbine generators, two heat recovery steam generators, and one steam turbine generator. The solar thermal equipment will use arrays of parabolic collectors to heat a high-temperature working fluid.
The hot working fluid will be used to boil water to generate steam. The combined-cycle equipment is integrated thermally with the solar equipment at the heat recovery steam generators, and both will use the single steam turbine generator.
During daylight hours, when the parabolic solar thermal collectors are in use, the solar aspect of the project will provide about 10 percent of the peak power generated.
The solar field will provide heat directly to the heat-recovery steam generators to produce steam, to reduce the natural gas used at the facility.
Palmdale will begin construction of the project after securing a developer and a power purchase deal. Commercial operation of the project is scheduled for 2013. The project has been under development for nearly six years.
