Calpine expects Geysers facilities to reach full capacity by year end
A sign at The Geysers, California, 2011 (source: flickr/ thinkgeoenergy, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
1 Aug 2016
Calpine reports that it expects its geothermal facilities at The Geysers to be back to full capacity by end of 2016. It currently is only 30 MW shy of its pre-fire capacity.
At a recent visit to the Geysers in California by the State’s Energy Commissioner and other staff members, Calpine officials said that The Geysers geothermal operations are expected to be at full capacity by the end of 2016.
Calpine Corporation operates 14 of the 17 plants at The Geysers. The California Energy Commission, which certifies thermal power plants that are 50 megawatts (MW) and larger, has jurisdiction over six of them. The plants can produce roughly 725 MW of electricity – enough to power a city the size of San Francisco.
Four of the six Calpine facilities under the jurisdiction of the Energy Commission were among the hardest hit by last year’s Valley Fire. The fire, which killed four people and burned a total of 76,000 acres, tested the resiliency of the operations at The Geysers.
The fire caused $100 million in damages. Cooling towers were destroyed and power transmission wires, pump stations and piping were damaged.
The Geysers is almost back to full capacity. Fire-resistant cooling towers made of fiberglass replaced the burnt ones. The Geysers’ power output on June 28 was 653 MW, just shy of the 685 MW produced on September 12, 2015 – the day the fire started.
Source: California Energy Commission
