New Projects
Natural Gas Modernization
We’re currently developing plans to replace our existing natural gas power plants in Long Beach, Huntington Beach and Redondo Beach with modern, more attractive and far more efficient facilities, which will take up less space at the sites. Modern and more flexible natural gas plants are critical to integrate renewable energy into the electric grid and help California meet its important clean energy goals.
Our plans to redevelop our power plants would likely increase the local taxes we pay, and allow us to continue providing jobs, doing business with local merchants, and supporting these communities through our charitable giving.
Climate Solutions
AES Corporation is developing projects and technologies worldwide that reduce or offset greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions primarily by capturing and destroying methane in a variety of forms before it reaches the atmosphere.
City of Huntington Beach's Study Session - Held February 6.
On Monday, February 6, AES shared its plans for modernizing our Huntington Beach power plant – so it’s cleaner, smaller, more efficient and more attractive.
We were excited to have the opportunity to share our general project plan and an artist rendering with you. Our goal is to help California achieve its clean energy and environmental goals by creating a project that’s good for the community, good for the environment and a critical part of our clean energy future.
Units 3&4 at AES Huntington Beach Set to Retire January 2012
AES has permanently retired two of its four generating units at the Huntington Beach power plant as of January 2012. Units 3&4 at AES Huntington Beach were recently sold to Edison Mission Energy (EME), an affiliate of Southern California Edison, so that EME could retire the two units which will enable them to begin operating a new power plant that they are constructing in the City of Industry. The linkage between the retirement of the existing power plant and the construction of the new power plant relates to air quality regulations. Shutting down the existing Huntington Beach units prior to beginning operation of the new power plant obligates the Air District to retire emission offsets and ensures that the overall air quality in the greater Los Angeles area will continue to improve.
And now AES is working on its own plans to replace the retired units with a smaller, lower and more efficient power plant that will not use the ocean water for cooling. In addition to being better for the environment, the new power plant will be able to start, stop and change its production of electricity very quickly. These features will compliment the new wind and solar resources that are being built and help California meet its aggressive clean energy goals.
AES Presents Plans for a Smaller, More Efficient Power Plant in Redondo Beach
Eric Pendergraft, President of AES Southland, and Jennifer Didlo, Project Director, presented AES’ plans for a new power plant at its site in Redondo Beach to a standing room only crowd at a City Council workshop on November 8, 2011. The preliminary plan calls for a smaller, lower and more efficient power plant that will not use ocean water for cooling. The proposed facility will be significantly shorter which will dramatically reduce skyline impacts and it will only occupy about one-third of the existing site - freeing up land that could be redeveloped for other beneficial uses.
The new plant will be less than half the capacity of the existing plant and it will be much more flexible – with the ability to start in twenty minutes rather than the twelve to thirty six hours that the existing plant requires. It will also be able to change its output as fast as two hundred megawatts per minute as compared to the five megawatts per minute of the current plant. These characteristics will enable the new facility to serve mulitiple roles including meeting peak demand, supporting more wind and solar, providing a local supply of electricity and helping to minimize the cost of electricity.