Leveraging Cleaner Conventional Sources

Past Ownership of Conventional Generation

Prior to 1999, PG&E owned more than 7,000 MW of oil- and gas-fired conventional boilers and combustion turbine generating facilities. In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, PG&E began to modify its fossil fleet in a programmatic fashion to substantially reduce NO_X air emissions.

In the late 1990s, in response to California’s electric energy deregulation law, PG&E sold all but two of its fossil-fueled power plants, Hunters Point Power Plant and Humboldt Bay Power Plant. PG&E also sold its renewable geothermal facilities at The Geysers. As part of an agreement with the City of San Francisco, PG&E retained its Hunters Point Power Plant and committed to retire it when the plant was no longer needed to ensure electric reliability for customers. PG&E retired this plant in 2006.

Separately and voluntarily, PG&E targeted the second remaining PG&E-owned conventional generating facility—the Humboldt Bay Power Plant—for replacement with a new cleaner, high-performance plant at the same site. PG&E did not sell the Humboldt plant because of its obligation to decommission a retired nuclear generating unit at the site.

New Plants Owned and Operated by PG&E

In the wake of the California energy crisis, state policy shifted again to support the ownership of new power plants by PG&E and other investor-owned utilities. PG&E has received permission from the CPUC to own and operate new, state-of-the-art natural gas-fired plants with emissions levels that are best in class.

The company has safely commissioned three substantial, new generating facilities since early 2009:

Humboldt Bay Generating Station

1. Humboldt Bay Generating Station: We began operations at this 163 MW natural gas plant in September 2010. This facility is 30 percent more efficient than the older fossil-fueled plant it replaced. It employs technology that, on average, produces more than 90 percent less SO₂, 98 percent less NO_X and nearly 35 percent fewer CO₂ emissions than the previous facility.
   
   The plant is located in a relatively isolated section of California’s north coast region and provides a significant majority of electrical capacity to the area. The new design—selected for the region because of its low emissions and flexibility—uses reciprocating engines that are air-cooled, reducing water use by eliminating the need for once-through cooling from Humboldt Bay. Last year, we also retired the existing plant at the site after 54 years of reliable operation.
2. Colusa Generating Station: We brought this 657 MW combined cycle natural gas plant into service in December 2010. Cleaner burning turbines allow the plant to use less fuel and emit significantly less CO₂ than older plants and “dry cooling” technology allows the facility to use 97 percent less water than plants with conventional “once-through” water cooling systems.
   
   The plant has 530 MW of base capacity and approximately 127 MW of low cost peaking power that can be used during peak energy demands or in emergency situations. In addition, the plant is designed to lower its power output when renewable resources like wind and solar become available. The plant uses a zero liquid discharge system that recycles waste water and further reduces the amount of water needed by the facility.

Gateway Generating Station
3. Gateway Generating Station: We completed the second year of operations at this 580 MW combined cycle natural gas plant. The plant has 530 MW of base capacity and 50 MW of low-cost peaking capability. On average, the plant yields dramatically less NO_X, SO₂ and CO₂ for every megawatt-hour of power produced, compared to older fossil-fueled plants. Gateway also uses dry cooling technology, which allows the plant to use 97 percent less water than older plants with once-through cooling water systems.

PG&E’s Air Emissions

To comply with stringent local air quality regulations, PG&E is focused on minimizing air emissions from its conventional sources of power generation. The following figures reflect emissions from PG&E-owned generation sources.

Air Emissions
	2008	2009	2010
Total NOX Emissions (tons)	1,163	1,258	904
Humboldt Bay Power Plant1	1,163	1,167	819
Humboldt Bay Generating Station2	N/A	N/A	5
Gateway Generating Station3	N/A	92	78
Colusa Generating Station4	N/A	N/A	1.5
NOX Emissions Rates (lbs/MWh)
Humboldt Bay Power Plant	4.26	4.05	4.27
Humboldt Bay Generating Station	N/A	N/A	0.08
Gateway Generating Station	N/A	0.07	0.05
Colusa Generating Station	N/A	N/A	0.04
Fossil Plants	4.26	0.82	0.49
All Plants	0.09	0.09	0.06
Total SO2 Emissions (tons)	27	37	42
Humboldt Bay Power Plant	27	31	34
Humboldt Bay Generating Station	N/A	N/A	1
Gateway Generating Station	N/A	6	7
Colusa Generating Station	N/A	N/A	0.14
SO2 Emissions Rates (lbs/MWh)
Humboldt Bay Power Plant	0.10	0.11	0.179
Humboldt Bay Generating Station	N/A	N/A	0.015
Gateway Generating Station	N/A	0.01	0.004
Colusa Generating Station	N/A	N/A	0.004
Fossil Plants	0.0980	0.02	0.023
All Plants	0.0021	0.0026	0.003
Total Particulate Matter Emissions (tons)	34	53	62
Humboldt Bay Power Plant	34	35	23
Humboldt Bay Generating Station	N/A	N/A	16
Gateway Generating Station	N/A	18	22
Colusa Generating Station	N/A	N/A	0.9
Total CO Emissions (tons)	134	156	123
Humboldt Bay Power Plant	134	142	100
Humboldt Bay Generating Station	N/A	N/A	9
Gateway Generating Station	N/A	14	9
Colusa Generating Station	N/A	N/A	6
Total VOC Emissions (tons)	29	38	54
Humboldt Bay Power Plant	29	31	28
Humboldt Bay Generating Station	N/A	N/A	19
Gateway Generating Station	N/A	7	8
Colusa Generating Station	N/A	N/A	0.02

¹ The Humboldt Bay Power Plant (Humboldt Bay) facilities, two operating fossil fuel-fired plants and two mobile turbines, were retired at the end of September 2010.

² The new high-performance Humboldt Bay Generating Station became operational in September 2010.

³ Gateway Generating Station became operational in January 2009.

⁴ Colusa Generating Station became operational in December 2010.

For our owned generation, PG&E’s nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions rates are significantly lower than the national averages.

Benchmarking NOX and SO2 Emissions1
	2007	2008	2009
National average, NOX	1.81 lbs/MWh	1.67 lbs/MWh	1.15 lbs/MWh
PG&E’s emissions rate, NOX	0.08 lbs/MWh	0.09 lbs/MWh	0.09 lbs/MWh
National average, SO2	4.92 lbs/MWh	4.23 lbs/MWh	3.31 lbs/MWh
PG&E’s emissions rate, SO2	0.0031 lbs/MWh	0.0021 lbs/MWh	0.0026 lbs/MWh

¹ There were no reportable mercury emissions from PG&E’s facilities.

New Plants Under Contract

In 2010, PG&E received CPUC approval of several long-term power purchase contracts with natural gas-fueled plants owned and operated by third-parties. Consistent with our corporate environmental and environmental justice policies, PG&E strives to minimize impacts from these facilities by considering and working to address their potential environmental and community impacts as part of our comprehensive due diligence process.

PG&E received CPUC approval to purchase power from a new third-party owned 719 MW peaker plant near Antioch. As part of the power purchase agreement for the new facility, the project developer agreed to retire two older existing boiler units that use once-through cooling before bringing the new plant online in 2013. Doing so will reduce local air and water impacts and demonstrates our commitment to environmental justice.

PG&E also received regulatory approval to purchase power from a new third-party-owned 184 MW natural gas plant to be built in Alameda County. Planned for 2012, the plant will be capable of starting rapidly when needed, which is especially important for integrating intermittent renewables into the grid. Two other third-party contracts receiving CPUC approval involved converting existing combustion turbine facilities into high-efficiency, higher-capacity combined cycle units by 2013—a 299 MW plant in Tracy and a 289 MW plant near San Jose.