Posted on 06/19/2008 10:43:24 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
CARLSBAD – The developer of a proposed power plant in Carlsbad plans to float a familiar idea to provide water for its generators: desalinate ocean water.
NRG Energy has applied to the California Energy Commission to build a 540-megawatt power plant west of Interstate 5 on the south shore of Agua Hedionda Lagoon.
The new plant would be on NRG's 95-acre ocean-view property, where it owns and operates the 965-megawatt Encina Power Station. That power plant is best known for its 400-foot-tall smokestack, visible for miles.
The new plant would replace three of Encina's five steam-driven turbines, so the old plant and its stack would remain standing for the foreseeable future.
NRG raised a group of green balloons this week to show the location and height of the new plant and its 140-foot-high smokestacks.
The gas-powered plant would consist of a two-part electrical generating system. Gas would be burned to drive a turbine that produces electricity; then heat from that process would drive a steam turbine to produce more power.
The advantage of such a system is to increase efficiency and electrical output, NRG says.
Although air-cooled, the plant during peak operation would need 500,000 gallons of water a day to generate electricity from its steam turbines, said Tim Hemig, project manager for the proposed Carlsbad Energy Center.
He said the company would likely file an update with the California Energy Commission detailing its desalination proposal next month.
The desalination idea is similar to a proposal by Poseidon Resources to desalinate 100 million gallons a day of ocean water to produce 50 million gallons of drinking water, at the same site but in a separate facility.
Hemig said yesterday that the company can't rely on Poseidon's process, because that plant doesn't have all of its permits.
NRG would rather use reclaimed wastewater from Carlsbad's reclamation plant, about 2½ miles south, which treats as much as 4 million gallons of sewage a day. However, Carlsbad has said it doesn't treat enough water to supply the proposed power station.
“The city's reclaimed-water system is fully committed during peak months,” Joe Garuba, the city's municipal projects manager, wrote to the California Energy Commission on April 25.
NRG proposed the air-cooled power station as a way to eliminate environmental problems associated with the Encina station, which uses seawater to cool its steam turbines.
Environmental groups oppose systems such as Encina's because of the marine life it harms. They have supported NRG's new plant because it would be air-cooled.
Those same groups oppose Poseidon's desalination proposal because the process would trap and kill fish, fish eggs and larvae. Poseidon says those impacts would be minimal.
Joe Geever, California policy coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation, said any proposal by NRG to use desalinated ocean water would raise “red flags.”
“In our opinion, open ocean intakes are a thing of the past,” Geever said. “The flip side is (that) we would be very supportive of Carlsbad expanding their wastewater recycling facility and supplying it to the power plant, especially where you have a ready buyer,” Geever said.
Hemig said NRG agrees that reclaimed water is preferable, but “we have to demonstrate a long-term water supply” as part of its application.
The company already has a permit from the Regional Water Quality Control Board to desalinate as much as 1.44 million gallons a day, he said.
“Our proposal on the new project would be 1.2 million gallons a day” to produce the 500,000 gallons it needs during periods of peak demand, Hemig said.
The proposed plant would operate only during periods of high energy use, or about 40 percent of the year, he said.
NRG would face the same challenges as Poseidon has, but on a smaller scale. Poseidon's project would be 100 times the size of NRG's.
NRG would have to send a maximum of 722,000 gallons of water a day – about the volume of an Olympic-size swimming pool – back to the ocean twice as salty as when it came into its process.
To lower that salt concentration so it does not harm marine life, Hemig said, the company would blend it with 3 million gallons of seawater, bringing it to a normal level.
Hemig said the new power plant would reduce the need for ocean water from the old turbines it will replace by as much as 98 percent.
Any person that opposes this plant should be required to be the first to give up electricity and drinking water when shortages occur.
California does not have enough power or enough water. It is impossible to get permits from the state to supply more of either.
The Golden State has exactly the government it deserves.
HOT DANG! I’m buying desal stocks again!
Only a slight tweak needed.
if the enviromental whackos would all get off the grid now, there'd be plenty for the rest of us.
These are what I reeeeeeeeeely like!
Nuclear Cogeneration Power Plants for Desalination
“Nuclear reactors could serve a dual purpose, providing both power and fresh water, as they do in nuclear submarines. If anchored a few miles offshore, nuclear desalination plants could be a source of large amounts of potable water transported by pipelines hundreds of miles inland to serve the needs of communities and industries.”
http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news12.27b.html
No, "E" groups oppose such systems because it will support evil capitalists.
Just ‘cause I need to ask...what do they do with the salt? Repave one of the salt flats?
they mix it with seawater and discharge it back into the ocean according to the story...
What's done with the salt? Anyone? Bueller?
Those same groups oppose Poseidon's desalination proposal because the process would trap and kill fish, fish eggs and larvae. Poseidon says those impacts would be minimal.
Joe Geever, California policy coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation, said any proposal by NRG to use desalinated ocean water would raise “red flags.”
“In our opinion, open ocean intakes are a thing of the past,” Geever said.
Desalination is the way of the future, the near future. It is the only way to secure a reliable, long term water supply for SoCal. It will also take a great deal of stress off of NoCal and the Colorado River environments. The EnviroNazis should be behind desalination 100% if they cared about the environment.
McCain should add some desalination plants for SoCal and the South to his plan to build many more nukes. Yet another issue to help differentiate Pubs and Rats.
Eat more french fries.
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