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Politics & Government

Coastal Power Project Breaks Ground in Long Beach

The $2.2 billion effort begins shift away from ocean cooling at power plants.

The Department of Water and Power broke ground in Long Beach on a coastal power project that begins a $2.2 billion effort to completely eliminate the use of ocean water to cool coastal power plants by 2029.

The project will replace two of six power generators at the Haynes Generating Station, on Westminster Avenue at the San Gabriel River, with six 100-megawatt natural gas combustion turbines to employ a process known as “dry cooling,'' using giant radiators similar to the way a car engine is cooled instead of cooling steam turbines with ocean water.

Haynes, which usually operates on extreme heat days, is capable of powering about half the city and can generate about 1,600 megawatts of power.

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The new turbines will allow the local power plant to fired up in minutes, compared to the steam turbines which need about 36 hours to reach maximum power capacity in order to meet peak demand or when
power generated outside the region is threatened by wildfires, or is down for maintenance.

"That speed in ramping up and down will help us meet another very important objective --," said LADWP General Manager Ron Nichols, " integrating more renewable energy into our electric grid. When the wind is blowing strong and delivering power to L.A., we need speed and flexibility to adjust to that power source. These new generating plants are part of an ntricate balancing act to maintain a steady flow of power to our customers."

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"This project serves a number of environmental benefits --," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, "improving habitat for ocean life, supporting the increase of wind and solar power, and cleaning the air by reducing emissions."

The entire project is estimated to cost $782 million, with the first new units scheduled to be online by 2013.

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