Coastal power plants get dramatic upgrades, but how do they fit with California’s renewable energy future?

Up and down the California coast, aging power plants are being replaced by sleeker, more efficient and more environmentally sensitive units — or are being shut down altogether.

In Los Angeles and Orange County alone, there are seven natural gas-fired coastal plants, with work underway or completed on six and the seventh scheduled for closure. The construction — with cranes towering more than 15 stories — offers a dramatic scene to the many passersby.

Critics argue that despite reduced emissions and technology that eliminates ocean impacts, the new units are being made obsolete by renewable energy.

Nonetheless, the changes are occurring with relatively little controversy for large-scale industrial projects on prime real estate.

Unlike other big seaside projects, such as the desalination plants proposed for Huntington Beach and El Segundo, neighbors have offered only passing opposition to the massive power-plant upgrades.

“My sense is that the majority of people moved into the areas after the plants were already there and they’ve grown accustomed to them,” said Joe Geever, a former Surfrider lobbyist who’s worked on power plant issues. “Also, I think the companies did a good job reaching out to the community.”

The old power units, most built in the 1950s, have mandatory shutdown dates thanks to a 2010 state policy phasing out power plants that use ocean water to cool their engines.

The primary reason for the policy change is that ocean intake pipes also suck in small sea creatures and fish eggs, often killing them.

But the move to new technology, which uses air rather than ocean water for cooling, was underway before the new policy.

Upgraded units in Playa del Rey, El Segundo, Wilmington and Long Beach were already in the works and went online far ahead of deadlines phasing out the old plants, with owners motivated by the allure of more efficient and economical operations. The new units of operator AES, for example, are expected to produce twice as much electricity with the same amount of natural gas.

“It is the electricity market that is ultimately driving the need to upgrade these plants,” Stephen O’Kane, environmental and compliance manager for AES, which has three coastal plants in Los Angeles and Orange counties. “The new units will be some of the most efficient units in the state.”

Solar’s growing role

Even with more efficient and environmentally sensitive plants, electricity from natural gas is accounting for less and less of the state’s power.

In 2015, the state electrical grid drew 40 percent of its energy from natural gas. That was down to 32 percent in 2016 and 28 percent in 2017, according to Steven Greenlee, spokesman for the California Independent System Operator, which coordinates sources responsible for about 85 percent of the state’s energy.

“Solar and wind — but especially solar — are displacing natural-gas use in California,” he said.

When selecting which available energy sources get tapped first, the Independent System Operator gives priority based largely on cost. At the top of the list of the cheapest energy are usually the renewable sources, particularly solar and wind.

But natural gas plants are still needed because of supply gaps in the electricity stream from solar, wind, hydroelectric, biofuel and geothermal operations.

These daily gaps typically occur for just a few hours, a result of high demand as well as downturns in solar and wind energy because the sun isn’t out or the wind has died.

“You’re buying the insurance to have energy that you may need for only short period of times,” said David Knox of NRG, which runs a natural-gas plant in El Segundo that was upgraded in 2013.

That means the gas-fired plants run intermittently. However, the new plants generally will run closer to capacity than the units they’re replacing thanks to greater efficiency and generally smaller size.

For instance, at AES’s Alamitos operations in Long Beach, the old units can produce 1,900 megawatts but run at only about 5 percent of their capacity.

The new, air-cooled units will be able to produce a more modest 640 megawatts but are expected to run at 25 percent to 30 percent capacity, according to O’Kane.

One megawatt can power 1,316 average California households, according to AES, which also has plants in Huntington Beach and Redondo Beach.

“It is the electricity market that is ultimately driving the need to upgrade these plants.” 

The Redondo Beach operation is being shuttered rather than upgraded, another aspect of downsizing that reflects the declining need for gas-powered plants and of plant operators’ adapting to the evolving market.

Technology for storing energy — which would allow solar energy, for instance, to be stockpiled for use when there’s no sunshine — is expected to become increasingly viable.

Among those embracing the technology is AES Alamitos, where plans include building a battery energy storage unit that could produce 300 megawatts for four hours before needing to be recharged.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which already has some air-cooled units at its three coastal plants, halted plans for more upgraded units in 2017 so it could study clean-energy alternatives and determine how quickly the city can reduce natural gas use.

A draft final report is expected by February 2019, according to Louis Ting, LADWP’s director of Power Planning Development and Engineering.

“The alternatives being studied include more renewables, energy storage, energy efficiency and demand response measures,” he said.

Too much gas?

Nonetheless, AES is spending at least $1 billion each for upgrades in Huntington Beach and Long Beach, an indication of the future that energy providers foresee for gas-powered plants.

The California Energy Commission’s approval of the new units is another sign of their ongoing role, although Gov. Jerry Brown’s September signature on a bill that calls for an end to carbon-produced electricity by 2045 points to the end of their lifespan in the state.

To determine how many upgraded gas-fired plants should be approved, the California Energy Commission uses the industry benchmark of a 15-percent reserve margin above peak energy needs, according to CEC spokesman Michael Ward.

The new units are fewer and smaller than the older one they’re replacing, but some environmentalists remain skeptical about the number getting the green light.

“We’re developing renewable energy so quickly, those plants could be sitting idle in 10 or 15 years,” Geever said. “That’s my hopeful guess.”

While the new plants have less carbon dioxide emissions than the old ones, they’re still not as clean as renewable sources.

“The (new) units will emit millions of tons per year of CO2,” said Bill Powers, an energy engineer consultant and activist who says that the state and the Independent System Operator overstated the need for natural-gas energy in a joint 2014 study that helps guide permitting strategies.

“We’re developing renewable energy so quickly, those plants could be sitting idle in 10 or 15 years.” 

But the time for opposition has largely passed.

Construction is underway at AES plants in Huntington Beach and Long Beach, and is completed at the NRG plant in Playa del Rey.

Read Here’s what’s happening at the coastal power plant nearest you

And even if the need diminishes before 2045, deals are in place to keep them solvent. AES in Huntington Beach and Long Beach, for instance, have contracts with Southern California Edison running until 2040, O’Kane said.

Rates versus bills

On the other side of the aisle from the environmentalists are some who complain that the state’s approach to energy — with its aggressive approach to reducing carbon use — has driven up electrical rates.

Defeated Republican candidate for governor John Cox claimed the state had “the highest electricity rates in the country.”

The state actually has the sixth highest residential rates in the nation, according to a Politifact California analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration data.

But the analysis showed 39 other states have higher average residential bills. In 2016, the average monthly California home bill was $95 while the national average was $113.

That’s because Californians use less electricity than most Americans.

While a megawatt can power 1,316 average homes in the state, it only runs 830 average U.S. homes, according to AES’s Dalia Gomez.

Beside having a milder climate than many states, California has been proactive in encouraging — and mandating — energy efficiency, with everything from tax incentives and rebates to phasing out incandescent light bulbs. On Wednesday, California became the first state to mandate solar panels on new homes, beginning in 2020.

And while state policy effectively banning ocean-cooled power plants further fueled operators to upgrade to sleeker, more efficient plants with lower profiles, designers can’t hide the fact that they are huge industrial plants sited on some of the most desirable land in the United States.

“It is a heavy industrial use and most people would not find it attractive,” said Sam Lee, El Segundo’s planning director. “But it is an improvement over the previous plant in its profile and more modern appearance.”

Huntington Beach Councilwoman Jill Hardy agreed the upgraded AES plant in her city will be something of an aesthetic improvement. But she also said that since the plant will no longer need ocean water, it is particularly out of place.

“I think 50 or 60 years in the future, we’ll be saying, ‘Why is this here?’”