How a new power plant near Modesto will help California avoid rolling outages this summer
A new power plant stands ready near northeast Modesto to help California avoid rolling outages.
This and similar plants in the Patterson and Lodi areas will kick on during summer heat waves that stress the grid.
Officials hope to not repeat 2020 and 2022, when utilities had to cut power to several hundred thousand people to the north. Each of the cutoffs was planned in advance and lasted about an hour, mainly in the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. service area.
The three plants cost a total of about $334 million. They were built for the California Department of Water Resources, which has a branch dealing with electricity.
Delphine Hou, deputy director for statewide energy at DWR, took part in a Monday tour of the Claribel Road site.
“This is a really critical program as we try to address these ever-changing, climate change-induced extreme events that we are seeing more and more of in California,” she said.
Natural gas fuels the plants
The plants run on natural gas, one of the carbon-based fuels linked to a general warming of global temperatures. But officials see it as a worthwhile trade-off for now because wind, solar and other clean sources might fall short during an emergency.
The plants meet tough state standards on air pollution, said Allan Schurr, chief commercial officer for the manufacturer, Enchanted Rock. The Houston-based company specializes in quick-build power systems.
The three plants are not in PG&E’s electrical service area, but rather in those of publicly owned utilities. Power crosses the boundaries already as part of normal operations.
The host utilities will be able to use the plants when DWR does not need them. They also can purchase them at a deep discount once the state has other long-term sources.
Plant is next to Modesto Irrigation District substation
The 48-megawatt Claribel plant is adjacent to a Modesto Irrigation District substation, between Coffee and Oakdale roads. High-capacity transmission lines already were in place.
MID demand typically is about 650 megawatts on summer days. It set a record of 760 megawatts on a 112-degree day in September 2022 but did not need to force outages.
The 47-megawatt Patterson-area plant is near the west end of the Turlock Irrigation District’s electricity system, along Marshall Road. TID set a record of 735 megawatts on that same day in 2022, also without major outages.
The third plant, 48 megawatts, is near Lake Lodi and part of that city’s municipal power system.
Together, the three sites can generate enough electricity for about 100,000 people during an emergency. The state is seeking other sources to keep on hand for peak demand, including a longer-than-expected life for the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant near San Luis Obispo. Another program urges residents to shift power use to off-peak hours.
DWR is best known for its water operations but it also generates plenty of hydropower and uses electricity to pump water long distances.
‘We take reliability seriously’
The new Modesto-area plant is made up of 120 small engines, which can be tailored to the demand, Schurr said. The entire array can charge up within a minute.
Enchanted Rock did a test run as part of the tour. The engines together made a low roar, but the visitors still could converse normally, said Scott Lipton, energy policy manager at Enchanted Rock. The company, by the way, is named for a granite dome in central Texas.
Modesto’s weather was anything but hot on this June morning — 70 degrees under a cloudy sky, headed for an afternoon high of 80. But the forecast called for 100 Tuesday, followed by two 104-degree days.
MID General Manager Jimi Netniss welcomed this addition to the overall grid and for his own customers.
“At MID, we take reliability seriously,” he said, “so to be able to partner on a project that brings more reliability to this area is near and dear to us.”
