05:58 PM PDT on Monday, June 14, 2004

The city of Riverside Public Utilities is sinking $75 million into a new power plant that, once constructed, will eliminate the need to purchase additional power from other companies to meetenergy demand on hot summer days. The new plant will also help shield the city from electricity blackouts caused by earthquakes or other natural disasters, or by any sort of state financial crisis, said Tom Evans, public utilities director.

For one afternoon in March 2001, the city lost electricity during one of several rolling blackouts that plagued the state during that year's energy crisis. Public utility officials asked 20 large electricity users in the city, including Goodrich, Ralph's markets distribution center in Sycamore Canyon, Pepsi, Luxfor USA and the University of California, Riverside, to cut back on their energy consumption in order to continue distributing power to the rest of the community.

The new power plant, to be called the Riverside Energy Resource Center, will help eliminate any future need for large businesses to cut back on electricity consumption during a crisis, Evans said.

The California Energy Commission is holding a second workshop June 17 at the Riverside Water Quality Control Plant on Acorn Street in Riverside to hear public comment and Riverside utilities' responses to state requests for information on land use, traffic, water resources, air quality and other issues.

The Riverside Energy Resource Center will consist of two 49-megawatt generators on 12 acres near Van Buren Boulevard and Jurupa Avenue. A transmission line will be installed about a mile down Jurupa Avenue from the plant to connect at an electrical substation.

The plant will produce nearly 100 megawatts of electricity, which the city will use as an additional energy source on scorching days when air conditioner use jumps.

Generally, one megawatt can provide electricity for 500 to 1,000 homes. The city requires about 500 megawatts of power on hot summer days, Evans said.

The resource center's electricity production will eliminate a contract with the California Department of Water Resources for 50 megawatts of power, a deal that ends in 2005. The new plant will also eliminate contracts with the Deseret coal power plant in Utah and with another company, contracts for a total 50 megawatts which end in 2008-09, Evans said.

The utilities department will nearly break even on the cost - the department currently pays 7.5 cents to 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour to outside firms, and it will cost about 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour to produce electricity at the new plant.

The benefit is in having the additional electricity source in town, "in case something goes wrong with the state-wide grid," Evans said.

The utilities department plans to issue bonds to pay for the new plant and is in negotiations with a company to provide materials procurement and construction, although Evans declined to identify the firm.

Evans will submit the construction company to the public utilities board on June 18 with a recommendation for a contract award, he said.

The proposed contract will then be forwarded to Riverside City Council the first week of July.

Construction on the Riverside Energy Resource Center is expected to begin in October after state approval and city building permits are issued.