The bus will leave at 4 p.m. on Oct. 1 from the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District office for anyone interested in touring the site of the proposed 200-megawatt Mariposa Energy Center.
A public hearing will take place at 5 p.m. that same evening after the site tour.
Those interested have until Thursday to make reservations through the California Energy Commission.
The electricity center will be a four-turbine plant and sit about 7 miles northwest of Tracy and 7 miles east of Livermore at the intersection of Bruns and Kelso roads.
The land plant would inhabit is on the very eastern edge of Alameda County. But with the prevailing winds blowing east into the San Joaquin Valley air basin, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and residents of the area have a say in the project.
The 10-acre parcel eyed by the power company sits on a larger, 160-acre area known as the Lee Property.
At full capacity, Mariposa could power up to 200,000 homes, according to the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state electrical grid. A megawatt supplies energy to roughly 750 to 1,000 homes, the agency said.
However, according to Mariposa officials, the plant is designed to be more of a “peaker” facility — one that can power up and off easily to meet changing levels of demand — and will likely run at far less than peak capacity.
The plant's parent company already has a 10-year contract in place to supply the proposed plant's electricity to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
Building Mariposa would require installing a new 580-foot natural gas pipeline and another 1.8-mile pipe to supply water to the plant from the nearby Byron-Bethany Irrigation District.
The energy commission permit was filed to build Mariposa on June 15, which means construction is about three years away, according to state regulators.
Energy officials this summer began a yearlong review of the company’s plans, a review that will include several public hearings like the one scheduled for the first week of October.
Mariposa is one of four power plants proposed for the area west of Tracy. GWF Energy also plants to expand its just-west-of-Tracy 169-megawatt peaker plant into a full-time energy center that could power more than 300,000 homes.
Also, two more companies have applied for permission to build a couple 1,000-plus-megawatt power plants around the same area a couple miles west of Mountain House.
For information about the Mariposa project, check out the latest documents associated with the case on the energy commission Web site at www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/mariposa.
At a glance
WHAT: Public site visit and information hearing on proposed power plant, the Mariposa Energy Project
WHEN: Bus leaves at 4 p.m. Oct. 1; hearing begins at 5 p.m. that day after site visit
WHERE: Meet at Byron Bethany Irrigation District, 7995 Bruns Road, in Byron
INFO: To reserve a spot, call the California Energy Commission at 800-822-6228
Ornley, is correct, but I have a meeting that day. I do hope the reporter does a good job.
I'd like to know more about a peaker plant in future articles. I've heard a lot about them. I know they are more efficient now than before.
I know they don't run all the time. I know they create jobs. I don't know how many jobs they create.
Maybe PG&E is reading? I always have lots of questions. Sorry.
Good luck.
CN
"Why don't these articles have any details?"
Probably because they don't have any more information than everyone else. That's th reason fer th meetin.
All of yer questions are good but if ya want th straight skinney on it I'd recommend ya attend this shindig personally ta make sure all of em get answered, instead of dependin on someone else ta do that.
Know yer probably as busy as everyone else but if ya really want th straight poop yer probably gonna have ta get it first hand.
If ya do, do us all a favor an tell us what ya find. More information is a good thang.
Odds are TP will have someone thair but they might not ask yer questions ta get th answers yer lookin fer.