Proposed solar plant runs into obstacles

CALIFORNIA CITY - A 250-megawatt solar power plant proposed for a former agricultural site north of the city has run into obstacles in the state permitting process. The company's plan to use fresh groundwater to cool the plant goes against state policy, so at a Tuesday public workshop representatives of the California Energy Commission outlined a series of alternatives that would not rely on fresh groundwater. However, the power plant operator argued that those alternatives are not feasible.

Beacon Solar LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources LLC, has applied to the state to construct and operate the solar plant on some 2,000 acres of land off State Route 14 about four miles north-northwest of California City and west of Cantil.

The plant would use a series of curved mirrors to capture and reflect sunlight on a series of tubes. Liquids in the tubes would be heated by the sunlight and in turn used to power a steam turbine, which actually produces the electricity.

The power plant application falls under the state Energy Commission's "in lieu" permitting process, which combines the various permits required from local, state and federal agencies into one process.

Tuesday's workshop addressed the various aspects of the commission's preliminary staff assessment, including air quality issues and cultural, biological, soil and water resources, as well as the commission staff's alternatives to the plan as proposed.

NextEra Energy was able to respond to the issues raised by staff in the preliminary assessment, and in many cases the two parties were able to agree on clarifications and other measures.

On the use of 1,600 acre-feet of groundwater for the plant, however, the commission and the company found little room for agreement.

I will merely point out that a 100% reliable, 100% CAPABLE, day-and-night 360 Megwatt combined cycle power plant was recently built in Massachusetts ..... on less than 3-1/2 acres of land.

Using waste water from the nearby municipal sewage system for cooling.

Oh. By the way. Total cost of the 362 Meg, 24-hour-per-day plant was about 220 million in 2005.

The plant also had to meet environmental concerns by setting aside land, with a ‘special permitting’ use for wastewater effluent. This effluent comes from a nearby wastewater treatment plant and is used for wet cooling.

AWARD FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT

The plant uses secondary treated wastewater from the Town of Southbridge’s municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Factors complicating this wastewater reuse were regulatory acceptance, distance between the WWTP and the power plant, crossing of environmental resources and a steep slope within the project site.

Weston & Sampson performed an initial assessment of cooling water need, wastewater quality and tertiary treatment. It then made a facilities layout and pipeline routing study along with final design and construction.

The wastewater reuse system provides up to 2.75 million gallons per day of cooling water to the power plant. Treated effluent, supplemented seasonally with water from the Quinebaug River, provides cooling water on a continuous basis. Cooling water waste is returned to the WWTP to be treated and reused. The sustainable system mitigates environmental impacts to local water resources, and a financial resource to Southbridge.

In addition to wasting water in the desert, this “solar” power “plant” can only produce power on sunny days between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. With peak power only available between 10:30 and 1:30 solar time.

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