Nonutility

One of the nation’s fastest growing nonutility power plantdeveloper/operators, Calpine Corp., San Jose, CA, is taking ahands-on approach to building a diversified natural gas portfolioto fuel what it eventually hopes is a network of highly efficient,environmentally clean combined-cycle power plants with a collectivecapacity of 25,000 megawatts.

A new nonutility natural gas supply network and someenvironmental concessions to local agricultural interests are twonew twists to a major 500 MW merchant natural gas-fired power plantproposed for northern California in proximity to the SacramentoValley gas fields. As a result, the project sponsor, CalpineCorp., has agreed to invest an additional $20-$25 million in theestimated $300 million project to use a more environmentally benignair cooling system at the plant instead of the traditionalwater-based evaporative cooling approach.

A new nonutility natural gas supply network and someenvironmental concessions to local agricultural interests are twonew twists to a major 500 MW merchant natural gas-fired power plantproposed for northern California in proximity to the SacramentoValley gas fields. As a result, the project sponsor, CalpineCorp., has agreed to invest an additional $20-$25 million in theestimated $300 million project to use a more environmentally benignair cooling system at the plant instead of the traditionalwater-based evaporative cooling approach.