Tag Archives: San Diego Gas Electric

Calif. outage leaves 123,000 without power

Authorities say a power outage in Southern California has left at least 123,000 customers in the dark in San Diego and Orange counties.

San Diego Gas & Electric spokeswoman Jennifer Ramp says the blackout began at just after 11:40 p.m. on Thursday and continued into the early morning hours of Friday.

Ramp told KNBC-TV (http://bit.ly/13ECZkb ) that the company’s entire south Orange County customer base was without power. That includes the cities of Mission Viejo, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, as well as Camp Pendleton in neighboring San Diego County.

The company is investigating the cause of the outage.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Southern California Edison Submits Operational Assessment Requested by NRC

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Southern California Edison Submits Operational Assessment Requested by NRC

ROSEMEAD, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– A new technical evaluation of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Unit 2 demonstrates that the Unit 2 steam generators could be operated safely at 100 percent power and reinforces Southern California Edison’s (SCE) more conservative plan to begin operating Unit 2 at 70 percent power for five months.

SCE submitted the operational assessment of potential Unit 2 steam generator tube wear to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in response to NRC questions. The new evaluation determined Unit 2 could operate at full power for 11 months with full tube integrity. The assessment was performed by Intertek APTECH of Sunnyvale, CA, and supplements Intertek’s earlier assessment of Unit 2 operation at 70 percent power. Intertek performs operational assessments relating to steam generators for many nuclear power plants around the U.S.

“This evaluation confirms the structural integrity of the Unit 2 steam generators at 100 percent power, as requested by the NRC,” said Pete Dietrich, SCE senior vice president and chief nuclear officer. “While we have no intent to restart Unit 2 at full power, this demonstrates the amount of safety margin we have built into our analyses. We welcome this additional safety analysis but remain steadfast in our commitment to restart Unit 2 at only 70 percent power.”

SCE has proposed the reduced power operating level to prevent the conditions that caused premature tube wear in San Onofre Unit 3 and indications of wear in Unit 2.

The San Onofre nuclear plant is the largest source of baseload generation and voltage support in the region and is a critical asset in meeting California’s summer electricity and clean energy needs. Both units at San Onofre are currently safely shut down. Unit 2 remains shut down since it was taken out of service Jan. 9, 2012, for a planned outage. Unit 3 was safely taken offline Jan. 31, 2012, after station operators detected a leak in a steam generator tube.

NRC approval is required before SCE can restart Unit 2. The repair, corrective action and restart plan for Unit 2, along with additional technical information to address questions from the NRC, are available to the public at www.SONGScommunity.com.

More information, including videos that explain how a steam generator works and the role San Onofre plays in providing reliable electricity to the region, is available at www.edison.com/SONGSupdate and at www.SONGScommunity.com. San Onofre is jointly owned by SCE (78.21 percent), San Diego Gas & Electric (20 percent) …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

NRG Begins Operations at 26 MW Borrego Solar Photovoltaic Facility

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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NRG Begins Operations at 26 MW Borrego Solar Photovoltaic Facility

Utility-scale solar facility in San Diego County provides clean power to SDG&E customers

PRINCETON, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– NRG Energy, Inc. (NYS: NRG) , through its wholly owned subsidiary NRG Solar, announced the start of commercial operations for the Borrego I Solar Generating Station, a 26 megawatt (AC) photovoltaic facility located northeast of Borrego Springs, Calif. The station’s electricity will be sold to San Diego Gas & Electric under a 25-year power purchase agreement.

NRG‘s 26 megawatt Borrego I Solar Generating Station has begun operations in California. The electricity will be sold to San Diego Gas & Electric under a 25-year power purchase agreement. (Photo: Business Wire)

“Borrego is our first utility-scale solar facility providing power to the San Diego area, helping to create local construction jobs and meet SDG&E’s demands for cost-competitive renewable sources of electricity,” said Randy Hickok, Senior Vice President of NRG Solar. “Our large-scale solar facilities provide clean, renewable energy that Californians want for their homes and to power the electric vehicle infrastructure NRG is currently building in California and Texas. Taken together, solar and electric vehicles will go a long way toward reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and our carbon emissions.”

“The Borrego I Solar Generating Station will provide clean renewable solar power for our customers, and is the first utility scale local renewable project to come online in San Diego County since 2006,” said Matt Burkhart, vice president of electric and fuel procurement for SDG&E. “We applaud NRG Energy for their perseverance in getting this project constructed and look forward to more local renewable projects.”

The Borrego facility will generate enough energy to meet the annual needs of approximately 9,000 homes. Using clean solar power also avoids the annual emission of approximately 19,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the equivalent of taking 3,500 cars off the road.

Borrego is one of eight large-scale solar facilities in NRG‘s ownership portfolio that is currently producing clean solar power for thousands of homes and businesses in three states. The other seven completed or partially completed plants are Agua Caliente (under construction) and Avra Valley in Arizona; Roadrunner in New Mexico; and Avenal, Blythe, Alpine and California Valley Solar Ranch (under construction) in California. A ninth solar plant that is not yet producing power, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California, is expected to be completed …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance