El Segundo Power Plant May End Ocean Cooling Method
Request to switch from using seawater to a closed system that won't damage marine life is praised by environmentalists.
Lee Peterson
The Daily Breeze
03/03/2007
With power plants facing increasing criticism for using the ocean as a coolant, the owner of the El Segundo Power generating station is seeking permission from state regulators to switch to an alternative, closed-cycle system, a company spokeswoman said Friday.
Poised to begin a major reconstruction, the coastal facility's plan is to end its reliance on the Santa Monica Bay as a coolant for its steam turbines. While seawater makes for an efficient, low-cost coolant, the process of once-through cooling is thought to kill massive numbers of fish eggs, larvae and other tiny sea life every day.
Environmentalists welcomed the change of heart by NRG Energy, the New Jersey-based company that owns the El Segundo Power plant.
"Hopefully this will signal the beginning of the end for once-through cooling in the region and the impacts it's obviously had on marine life," said Heal the Bay Executive Director Mark Gold. "NRG is to be commended for this."
NRG waged a nearly five-year battle to win approval from the California Energy Commission for the demolition and reconstruction of half of the plant, which sits on the ocean side of Vista del Mar, just north of Manhattan Beach's El Porto neighborhood.
Environmentalists most objected to the fact that the plant was going to be allowed to suck in up to 127 billion gallons a year, heat it up -- destroying whatever life is in the water -- and send it out again. The half-century old plant has always used once-through cooling, as do the city of Los Angeles' nearby Scattergood plant and Terminal Island plant, and the AES station in Redondo Beach. The El Segundo station has been mostly dormant in recent years as it awaits its $425 million makeover.
Approval to rebuild was granted in early 2005, but the plant wasn't ready to start construction until it secured the agreements to sell the power it would produce, NRG officials said. The plant is now expected to be able to sell its power starting in 2010, the company said.
But under a proposal that an NRG spokeswoman said has been filed with the state Public Utilities Commission, the project would use a closed system that relies upon cooling towers. Water is circulated to the towers, cooled when exposed to air and then returned to the turbines.
Despite its permits, the company saw that it was not going to be easy to proceed with once-through cooling. "We are concerned, of course, about the fact that the state has continued to move (against) once-through cooling. That's not something that's been lost on us," said the NRG spokeswoman.
The most recent blow against using ocean water as a coolant wasn't just statewide, it was national. A U.S. appellate court ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could not as easily let power plants ignore alternative means of cooling that do not depend on sucking in billions of gallons of ocean.
Last year, the California Ocean Protection Council and State Lands Commission passed resolutions calling for the end of once-through cooling.
The change by El Segundo Power hopefully will build momentum, environmentalists said. "You have to applaud them. From an industry perspective, this is huge," said Tracy Egoscue, executive director of Santa Monica Baykeeper.
