Citing the Golden State's suspect power supply situation this summer, the California Energy Commission voted unanimously July 15 to allow Calpine Corp. to temporarily modify a natural gas-fired plant that recently experienced a catastrophic turbine explosion so it can restart in August with lower efficiency and at roughly half capacity.
The 648-MW Russell City Energy Center in Hayward, Calif., has been sidelined since late May, unable to kick in much-needed capacity during a series of severe heat waves that hit California and the entire western U.S. in late spring and early summer, adding to the California ISO's mounting challenges to keep the lights on in the world's fifth-largest economy.
"This is an unacceptable event, and Calpine failed to do the necessary preventative maintenance here," Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild said at the meeting. The May 27 accident, which occurred shortly before midnight and launched chunks of heavy metal into areas surrounding the plant, could have resulted in fatalities, Hochschild added.
But the commission chief was "comfortable" with Calpine's plan to revive the combined-cycle plant in simple-cycle mode at 300 MW to 350 MW, bypassing the damaged steam generator and relying on two unaffected combustion turbines. "We are under a period of enormous stress for the electric grid and that is a health issue," Hochschild said, pointing to a severe drought that has diminished hydroelectric capacity, widespread wildfires that can reduce solar production and heat waves that drive up demand for electricity along with air conditioning use.
Officials at the California Public Utilities Commission and CAISO also deemed the project critical for electric grid reliability, both in the transmission-constrained local pocket of the San Francisco Bay Area and for the broader power system.
"Having the Russell City generation facility offline makes matters worse," Ed Randolph, the PUC's deputy executive director, said at the meeting.
'Astonished and appalled'
City of Hayward officials, on the other hand, blasted Calpine's proposal and urged commissioners to reject it. The eight-year-old facility is a public safety hazard and a full investigation into the blowup should occur before its restart, they argued.
An independent third-party investigation commissioned by Calpine and a separate Energy Commission probe are both underway but are not likely to be completed before the plant's proposed restart in August to help meet peak summer demand.
"Frankly, we are astonished and appalled at this application and your staff's recommendation of approval," Hayward Mayor Barbara Halliday said at the meeting ahead of the vote.
The mayor, the city's fire chief and the city manager expressed frustration with Calpine and the PUC over learning only a week earlier that a March 2019 PUC audit had flagged "numerous conditions and safety violations that may have led and contributed to the kind of explosion that took place," Kelly McAdoo, Hayward's city manager, said at the meeting. The audit also directed Calpine to conduct safety procedures with Hayward's fire department, which the company failed to do, city officials added.
Moreover, since Calpine's responses to the audit were filed as confidential documents to the PUC, neither the city nor the public can verify what corrective actions were taken, the officials added. "The question for me is not just whether the plant can be reopened safely, but whether Calpine can operate that plant safely," McAdoo said.
In response to their concerns, the Energy Commission revised its order to commit to "enhanced scrutiny" over the facility and access to safety audits. The order also scheduled a safety meeting among commission staff, Calpine and Hayward's fire department to occur within 30 days.
