Palomar Energy Nears Commercial Operation - One of Several New California Power Projects Scheduled for Early 2006 Start-Up

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Info Resources; Houston, Texas). Palomar Energy Resources, LLC, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy Resources, an unregulated subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) (San Diego, California), is undergoing final tests, and at times generating power for the grid in preparation for full-scale commercial operations. The new plant is located in Escondido near Vineyard Avenue and Enterprise Street. In April, the plant will be handed over to operator San Diego Gas & Electric (San Diego, Califorina).

Construction of the plant started during the summer of 2004. Kiewit Industrial Company (Lenexa, Kansas), a subsidiary of Kiewit Corporation (Omaha, Nebraska), was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract. The plant consists of two General Electric natural gas-fired combustion turbine generator sets, two duct-fired Nooter/Ericksen heat recovery steam generators (HRSG) and a General Electric D-11 steam turbine/generator.

Including the units at Palomar, there are currently 22 units representing over 1,700 megawatts that are currently under construction or final testing and scheduled for commercial operation during the early half of 2006 in California. These projects represent a total investment of over $780 million to add additional electricity capacity in the state.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the breakdown of units under construction in California by fuel type.

Note that the majority of the projects currently under construction are natural gas and a few units are renewable energy projects.

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