Gateway Power Plant opens in Antioch

Just over a month since the power was turned on at the new Gateway Generating Station in Antioch, Pacific Gas and Election held a dedication ceremony. The electric company purchased the under construction power plant from Mirant Delta in June 2006 and worked to complete construction on the project in two year, said Randy Livingston, vice president of Power Generation for PG & E.
"This plant will send power into a grid that services 400,000 customers," Livingston said. Transmissions on this line will reach seven western states, including customers in central and northern California.
Members of the PG & E staff are very excited about this particular plant, Livingston said, because the plant employs new technology known as dry cooling. Under this new technology the plant can run by using 97 percent less water than previous conventional water-cooling system designed plants. It also produces 96 percent less discharge than the conventional plants.
"We are keenly aware of the Delta issues and a plant like this can safe an incredible amount of water," Livingston said.
Gateway is a 530-megawatt, state of the art gas facility. Cost of the construction for the Gateway plant at $386 million is higher than that the cost of building conventional plants, but Livingston said that in the long run the higher construction would provide a more efficient running plant and save money in the long haul.
Not only does the plant use less water, but also PG & E reports that the combined cycle technology will decrease fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions, which is reported to contribute to climate change. With this plant up and operational, as well as two other PG & E projects in California underway, California will ease away from relying on other aging fossil-fueled power plants and lower air emissions.
Currently there are hundreds of variations of these types of plants throughout the United States. They are expected to last 30 years or more. "From an engineering perspective these are at top efficiency," Livingston said.
The state of California is setting new regulations in 2010, and possible again in 2020, that will require more natural resource, such as wind and solar powered plants. Livingston explained that the advanced technology in a plant of this type is equipped to shift the load of power as needed. This will also be helpful with other future fluctuation changes, such as the increased need for electricity as more hybrid automobiles are purchased.
The Gateway project and these newly approved contracts are part of PG&E's comprehensive energy strategy designed to meet our customers' future energy needs in as environmentally responsible a manner as possible, Livingston said.
During construction PG&E hired on hundreds of local independent contractors and now that the plant is up and running it employs 22 local residents as regular staffing personnel.