CalPine brings SoCal power plant online

Part of meeting California's energy needs and preventing future energy crises involves the need to build more power plants. Calpine delivers for Southern California and yesterday brought its 250MW Pastoria Power Plant online:

Calpine Corporation's (NYSE: CPN)Pastoria Energy Center has begun operation and is now supporting the energy-scarce Southern California market with 250 megawatts of electricity. Next month, Phase II will be completed, bringing a combined total of 750 megawatts to Southern California in time for peak summer power demand.

Thirty miles south of Bakersfield, Pastoria is located on property leased from the Tejon Ranch Corporation and interconnects to the Southern California Edison transmission system. The facility is fueled with natural gas and will produce power equivalent to the demand of almost 600,000 California households.

"California energy officials expect record power use again this summer and the Pastoria Energy Center is coming online just in time," said Calpine's Vice President of Marketing & Sales David Lewis. "Demand for electricity in California is growing by almost four percent annually, and the location of the Pastoria power plant will provide megawatts where they are needed most."

The plant runs on natural gas--a commodity which is becoming scarcer in California--which should remind us of California's energy interdependence.