Hayward uncertain about two power plant projects

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Feb 4, 2007 | by Matt O'Brien

HAYWARD -- The thought of not just one, but two gas-burning power plants being built in west Hayward unnerves retired schoolteacher Laura Ramsey.

Hayward, like most other cities in Alameda County and the Bay Area, has never had a large-scale electricity-producing plant within its borders.

And it was only last week that Ramsey, a Hayward resident for more than 50 years, found out the city might soon transform from just another energy consumer into a crucial generator of the Bay Area power supply.

"Why Hayward?" asked Ramsey, who imagines the worst in the two new plants: rows of dirty smokestacks and noxious air.

"I think this energy thing should be spread out," she said. "I'm concerned about the water. I'm concerned about the edge of the Bay. I'm concerned with the whole area down there."

Ramsey attended a California Energy Commission-hosted tour last week of the 6-acre industrial lot where a Texas company, Tierra Energy, wants to build a 115.5-megawatt plant on Clawiter Road just north of Route 92.

She was told, along with the handful of other residents who attended, that this gas-fired plant would be far cleaner than the fossil fuel-burning power plants of the past, that hardly anyone would be able to see it, and that it would be a boon to Hayward in the event city residents or businesses ever need an emergency power jolt.

The plant has been called a back-up and would operate no more than 4,000 hours a year -- which is a little less than half-time. It would have 14 smokestacks, each 70 feet tall.

"Basically, it's very similar to an engine in a car. It's 20 cylinders. There's 14 engines. It's a very simple technology," said Tierra project manager Greg Trewitt in an interview Friday. "On the exhaust side of it, we are applying for the lowest (nitrous oxide) emissions ever, certainly in the state of California, for this type of technology."

Nitrous oxide is a product of combustion.

But as a handful of active residents and city officials try to absorb complex questions of thermodynamics, the plans for both plants are rapidly developing, and some of the locals worry that Hayward is being left with a burden it shouldn't have to bear.

"We believe Hayward has done more than its share," City Manager Jesus Armas told state energy commissioners in a public hearing that followed last week's tour, listing the city's concerns about air quality, hazardous materials and traffic.

Why Hayward?

The answer to why Hayward is attractive as an energy hub depends on who is answering.

For Calpine Corp., the San Jose-based company that wants to build the larger of the two proposed Hayward plants, it has something to do with water.

Calpine's plant, called the Russell City Energy Center, would sit adjacent to Hayward's municipal wastewater treatment plant on Enterprise Avenue, and, through an agreement with the city, use the recycled wastewater as a coolant.

The plant would produce up to 600 megawatts of energy -- five times the capacity of Tierra's plant.

That's because while Tierra's facility is designed as a "peaker" plant, or a back-up during periods of peak energy demand, the Russell City Energy Center would be expected to operate round the clock.

The bigger plant would use a combined-cycle gas turbine.

Instead of wasting all the excess heat that is produced by burning natural gas, a combined-cycle uses the excess heat to produce more electricity, said Mike Hatfield, Calpine's development director, making it one of the most efficient types of commercial gas plants on the market.

"With a combined-cycle plant, what we're doing is taking what would have been waste -- if you think of a jet engine, that exhaust is pretty hot -- and running it through a steam turbine," Hatfield said. "So we're capturing a lot more energy."

Hatfield said the other reason why Hayward was chosen is its central location in the Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s infrastructure network.

Both the Calpine and Tierra plants are being built to produce power for the PG&E electric grid. PG&E already has signed power purchasing agreements with both companies.

"It has a location that PG&E transmission folks think is a good location," Hatfield said.

It is in what PG&E calls a "load center," he said, interconnecting with the utility company's Eastshore Substation on the south side of Route 92.

That substation is connected to a 115-kilovolt line that transports electricity up and down the East Bay, as well as another major line that crosses the Bay alongside the San Mateo Bridge.

Along with the electricity line, the two plants are near PG&E's major natural gas line, which runs alongside a railroad corridor and provides the fuel both plants need to generate power.

Both companies say they picked the Hayward site because, in effect, PG&E wants them there, but PG&E says it's the developers, not the energy provider, who decide where to build.

"PG&E does not pick power plant sites," PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno said. "However, the generators will pick plants that are closer to electric and gas transmission facilities. You want to have ready access to that."