Underlining California's ongoing reliance on natural gas-fired generation as it seeks to steadily decarbonize its power grid in coming decades, a state agency on Oct. 19 will consider effectively extending the life of an aging AES Corp. facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., for another two years.

AES' roughly 841-MW Redondo Beach power plant, which entered service in 1954, previously was scheduled to retire at the end of 2020. But the State Water Resources Control Board in September 2020 approved a one-year extension for compliance with its landmark 2010 policy to phase out facilities that rely on aquatic cooling systems harmful to marine life. Against the backdrop of back-to-back days of rolling blackouts in mid-August 2020, the board last year also granted three-year extensions for AES' Alamitos and Huntington Beach plants and GenOn Holdings Inc.'s Ormond Beach Generating Station.

Now, the agency will consider allowing the three remaining operational units at Redondo Beach to operate until the end of 2023, too. The move is aimed at helping to bridge ongoing capacity shortfalls that prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue a grid emergency proclamation this past July. Citing reliability concerns, an advisory committee made up of the water board, the California Energy Commission, California Public Utilities Commission, California ISO and other state agencies earlier this year recommended extending the Redondo Beach compliance date two years.

Despite some recent challenges associated with running older and newer gas plants, AES says it is prepared to operate Redondo Beach for an additional two years.

Need for plant questioned

Not all stakeholders agree the plant is needed. The Redondo Beach City Council argues the extension is unnecessary and vehemently opposed the action in an Oct. 12 resolution and in a July 16 letter to the State Water Resources Control Board. The continued operation of the plant "has resulted in the degradation of the wetlands and significant negative environmental impacts to air quality and marine life and is not necessary for the reliability of California's electrical supply," the resolution stated.

In its response to comments from the City of Redondo Beach and other parties involved in the proceeding to consider extension, the water board said the power plant should remain available "until new capacity is online, and in light of the new uncertainties associated with climate-related changes in California and west-wide electricity supply and demand."

The PUC in June ordered California's investor-owned utilities, local government-run community choice aggregators and other retail power suppliers to procure at least 11,500 MW of clean energy resources between 2023 and 2026 to shore up grid reliability as the state accelerates its energy transition. That includes retirement of more than 3,700 MW at older gas plants by the end of 2023 as well as Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s 2,240-MW Diablo Canyon nuclear power station — the Golden State's largest source of electricity — in 2024 and 2025.

As part of that order, the PUC ruled that it "should not request" any additional extensions for aging facilities that use ocean water for cooling beyond those currently under consideration for Redondo Beach.