Jun 04 - The Record



Conversion of a coal-fired power plant to burn biomass cleared a major hurdle Thursday as state utility officials gave their blessing to the alternate energy project.

The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved a contract under which Pacific Gas and Electric Co. would buy power from DTE Energy, which would install a 45-megawatt biomass facility at the Port of Stockton.

A spokesman for DTE Energy, whose largest subsidiaries are Detroit Edison and Michigan Consolidated Gas Co., said the company will, after a 30-day appeal period following the CPUC approval, move to purchase the now-idle plant from a subsidiary of FPL Group Inc., whose regulated utility is Florida Power & Light Co.

"In the meantime, we've sought an air permit from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. We ... hope to get that later this year," DTE spokesman Scott Simons said.

 "If that's the case, we'll start construction next year, and we're expecting it to take about two years," he said. "So we're looking at early 2013 for the plant to be operational." Deputy Port Director Jeff Kaspar said given the port's access to ocean, rail, pipeline and highway transportation, as well as industrial zoning, it is the logical location for such a development, Kaspar said.

Conversion of the coal-fired plant, known as POSDEF, or Port of Stockton District Energy Facility, to biomass is also a good use of the existing infrastructure, he added. Those assets include connections to the PG&E power grid and existing cooling towers, he said.

Contact reporter Reed Fujii at (209) 546-8253 or rfujii@ recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/fujiiblog.

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