AES Huntington Beach's Synchronous Condensers Start-Up Just in Time for Californians

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Under a Reliability Must Run (RMR) agreement, AES Huntington Beach LLC, a subsidiary of AES Southland, brought two synchronous condenser units online at the end of June. In the summer of 2011, AES Southland sold units 3 and 4 to Edison Mission Energy. But AES Southland turned around and did a lease back program with Edison Mission Energy shortly after the sale.

AES Southland is itself a subsidiary of AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) (Arlington, Virginia). Edison Mission Energy is a subsidiary of Southern California Edison (AMEX:SCEPB), itself a subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE:EIX) (Rosemead, California).

The two units will supply voltage and support to the grid during the high-demand summer months, serving residents in and around Los Angeles and in Southern California. There are several additional synchronous condensing units being reviewed for operation at older, less efficient natural gas and oil-fired locations. Since these condensers will not generate actual megawatts, but instead support the movement of voltage throughout the grid and the importing of additional generation, this will help system stability and reduce the likelihood brownouts or blackouts in the area.

Synchronous condensers do not operate on fuel; they are powered by an electric motor that turns the generator for nothing more that grid support. This is much-needed in this region, since the recent announcement that the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) will not return online has a lot of folks scrambling. SONGS shut down in 2009 for mechanical issues.

AES Southland has plans to repower Huntington Beach, Alamitos and Redondo Beach locations over the next decade or so, with more efficient low-emission and discharge facilities. Each facility is being looked at for approximately 500 to 1,000 MW, possibly being done in phases over the next three to nine years. Each one of these facilities will cost approximately $500,000 to $1 million per MW to build per phase.

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