Decision on AES retooling project set for Wednesday

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The California Energy Commission’s siting

committee held one last public hearing in the council chambers of City

Hall on Monday to discuss powerhouse AES Corp.’s proposal to restart a

pair of energy generators that have sat silent since 1995.

The hearing, the final one before the retooling plan appears before

the commission for a vote Wednesday, gave city and AES officials a chance

to comment on a proposal released by the committee last month.

That proposal set a five-year limit on the retooling and operation of

power generating units No. 3 and No. 4 at 21730 Newland St., where AES

already has two generators in use, as well as a smaller peaker unit used

in maximum demand periods.

“I think we’ve been very successful in bringing the best project we

can forward,” said Ed Blackford, AES president and site manager of the

Surf City plant. “But we’re against the five-year limit on certification

and if this is ultimately approved, we’ll have to take our concerns

before the full commission.”

City officials said limiting AES to a five-year permit for the

mothballed generators is at the core of its entire approach in the siting

committee process.

“We really pressed hard to protect the environment, the ocean and

beaches and feel we did that with the measures in place in the proposal,”

said Bill Workman, assistant city administrator, adding that the

committee’s proposal also requires the utility company to set aside money

to study its impact on local wildlife. “But one of the big victories are

the additional limits and controls on the peaker unit’s jet engines, as

well as the idea that AES would generate a master plan for its site so

everyone and the community can know what to expect.”

An overriding concern of the public, city and committee was the need

for assurance that any power generated by the retooled units, expected to

be about 450 megawatts and cover about 10% of the 5,000-megawatt

shortfall predicted for this summer, should stay in California.

AES officials said they are in negotiations with the state’s

Department of Water Resources over that very subject, but that the

five-year permit limit could hamper those talks.

Labor union officials also attacked AES on Monday, berating the power

company for using out-of-state workers instead of local laborers.

Blackford said that 50% of the labor pool for the retooling project

would consist of Californians, with 30% of that work force staffed by

Orange County natives.

FYI

For more information on the AES Corp. retooling project, residents can

visit o7 https://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/huntingtonbeach/f7 on

the Web or call (916) 654-4489 for project manager Jack W. Caswell at the

Energy Facilities Siting and Environmental Protection Division of the

California Energy Commission.