PG&E begins testing 660-megawatt Maxwell facility

Pacific Gas and Electric company is one step closer to its goal of spinning steam into electricity by the end of this year.

The company fired up its massive natural gas combustible turbines at the Maxwell generating station for the first time on Thursday — one of the first of many steps toward getting the plant online, said PG&E spokesman Brian Swanson.

The power plant, located in the foothills just west of the community of Delevan, has been under construction for two years.

"We're still in the testing phase," Swanson said. "We will make sure everything is working properly before we start generating electricity."

Swanson said the $360 million power plant has 93 operating systems to fire up before the plant comes online later this fall.

Once running, the plant will produce up to 660 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 500,000 homes, he said.

PG&E reports the plant could generate between $1.5 million and $4 million in local taxes annually.

Swanson said about 700 people worked around the clock to build the generating facility. About 27 full-time employees are working at the site now.

Fueled by natural gas, the new dry-cooling technology is expected to use less water than older power generating plants, and will yield 35 percent less carbon dioxide for every megawatt-hour of power produced, PG&E claims.

"It's all state-of-the-art technology," Swanson said.

Additionally, the new technology will allow PG&E will lower its power output when intermittent renewable energy resources — like wind and solar — are available, or increase power output to meet future energy needs, Swanson said.

"We can ramp down on a sunny day, or ramp up on a cloudy day," he said. "Over the long run, it will allow us to rely less on fossil fuels."

PG&E has similar projects in Antioch and Eureka.

Contact Susan Meeker at 458-2121 or smeeker@tcnpress.com.