Imperial Valley (United States)
Generation, Geothermal
The Project
The project consists of 10 generating plants in the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area, or SSKGRA, in Southern California's Imperial Valley. The plants produce electricity solely from naturally occurring geothermal steam. Geothermal production wells tap into superheated water reservoirs thousands of feet beneath the Earth's surface to release tremendous pressure, caused by the hot water, which rushes to the surface. There, steam is separated and used to drive turbines to generate electricity. Four of the Imperial Valley facilities – Vulcan, Hoch, Elmore and Leathers – are under contract to sell power to Southern California Edison Company under 30-year power purchase agreements. Four other power plants – Salton Sea 1, 2, 3 and 4 – also sell energy to Edison under 30-year power purchase agreements. Salton Sea 5 and the CE Turbo plant sell virtually all of their power to third parties. The combined capacity at Imperial Valley is 327 net megawatts (nominal).
Environment
Energy produced by the Imperial Valley project is from naturally occurring geothermal steam, a preferred energy source because it is reliable, renewable, clean, indigenous and economical.
Owner/Operator
The existing Imperial Valley power generation facilities are indirectly owned by CE Generation LLC (CE Gen), a limited liability company, 50 percent of which is owned by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, and are operated by CalEnergy Operating Corporation, an indirect subsidiary of CE Gen.
Location:
Calipatria, California, U.S.A.
Date of Commercial Operation:
Capacity:
327 net MW (nominal)
Electricity Purchaser:
Southern California Edison Company (Elmore, Leathers, Vulcan, Del Ranch and Salton Sea Units 1 - 4)
Interconnection and Firm
Transmission Agreement:
Transmission lines, owned and operated by Imperial Irrigation District (IID) are used to interconnect each of the operating power plants, except Salton Sea 1, which delivers power directly to SCE, using the IID transmission lines