Plans to nearly double the size of a local peaker power plant to be going smoothly, after a hearing earlier this week where the state energy commission officially received all information regarding the project, although some residents disapprove of it.

The Tracy Combined Cycle Peaker Plant, operated by GWF Energy in an unincorporated area southwest of town, generates up to 169 megawatts in the peak hours of electricity use. The company wants the part-time power generating plant to become a full-time plant, boosting it up to 314 megawatts.

At a hearing on Monday at Tracy’s City Hall, the California Energy Commission entered all of the documents from GWF and any interveners regarding the project into the record. Raoul Renaud, a hearing adviser for commission, said the hearing was pretty much straightforward.

“It was just kind of dotting all the Is and crossing the Ts,” GWF business manager Riley Jones said. “It was very short, and it went well. That’s our plan. Right now, everything is moving forward.”

Renaud said that Annette Tuso Elissagaray, whose family lives and farms near the plant, read aloud a statement to oppose the plant because it will generate more air pollution and noise.

The statement Elissagaray read and submitted was similar to one filed in July by herself and the Tuso families, who also opposed the plant when it opened in 2002. Renaud said that the concerns of Elissagaray and the Tuso families will be taken into consideration before the final decision is made.

“The applicant and the energy commission staff have worked on the project for over a year and had resolved all issues concerning environmental impacts,” Renaud said.

For the next step, commission spokesman Percy Della said the state will publish a preliminary decision in 45 to 60 days, then open it up to 30 days of public comment. After that, Della said the commission will vote to OK or deny the peaker plant’s expansion.

If the plans are OK’d by the state, construction would start in the fall of 2010 and the plant would likely open in June 2012, according to the commission.

Right now, the plant can power up to 125,000 homes in the area when demand is high.

Jones said the plant, despite growing, would decrease its impact on the environment by going from a gas-burning system to steam.

But the plant that now annually spews about two tons of nitrogen oxide into the air will generate 90 tons if the plant doubles in size, says the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

He also noted that the plant’s expansion will bring about 400 new jobs to the area as well as pour $20 million through purchases of goods and services into the community, or $50,000 per worker.

Jones also said after construction is completed, the plant would have about 20 new jobs and GWF would have to pay in the neighborhood of $4 million a year in property taxes.

“We have complied with all the requirements so there would be no reason for it to not move forward,” Jones said.

Contact Tracy Press reporter Justin Lafferty at 830-4269 or jlafferty@tracypress.com.