Alamitos Energy Center (AEC) is a 1,040MW natural gas power plant with a 300MW battery energy storage system being built in Long Beach, California, US.
The plant will feature two blocks, integrating combined-cycle and simple-cycle configurations.
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AEC will supply electricity to Southern California Edison consumers with 50% lower emission rates, helping the state of California reach its target to use 100% clean energy by 2045.
The project is being developed with an investment of $1.3bn from AES Alamitos, a subsidiary of AES Corporation (AES). Annual revenues of between $12.3m and $14.6m have been forecast once the plant is complete. It received approval from the California Energy Commission and the final permit from the South Coast Air Quality Management District in April 2017.
Construction of the power plant began in July 2017 and was said to be 85% complete as of June 2019, with the first start-up and testing of the power plant scheduled for October 2019. The battery energy storage system began to be built in June 2019 and the project is expected to be completed by 2022.
It is estimated that the development will generate 1.48 million hours of construction work and 51 permanent jobs.
Alamitos Energy Centre location
Alamitos Energy Center will be located in Long Beach City, Southern California, US. It is being built on 21 acres of the existing Alamitos Generating Station site on Studebaker Road. The site is accessible from the I-405, I-605 and SH 22 highways.
The new plant is being constructed within the existing Alamitos Generating Station site due to availability of infrastructural materials such as transmission lines, natural gas pipelines and substations.
Plant make-up
The new power plant will consist of a 640MW combined-cycle power block (block one) and a 400MW simple-cycle, air-cooled electrical generating facility (block two).
Block one will integrate two natural-gas-fired combustion turbine generators (CTGs) in a combined-cycle configuration, with two unfired heat recovery steam generators, one steam turbine generator, an auxiliary boiler and an air-cooled condenser. Block two will house four simple-cycle CTGs with fin-fan coolers.
AEC will be air-cooled and will avoid the deployment of ocean water for cooling, reducing the liquid usage by 70%. The site will also have superior emission control technology installed.
The plant will replace the existing AES Alamitos generating station, reducing the carbon footprint by 50% compared to its predecessor.
Alamitos Energy Center construction
Power block one is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in 2020. Construction of the battery energy storage system and power block two will begin in 2020 and is scheduled to conclude in 2022. Demolition of the existing plant is set to take place in 2026.
The installation of steam piping, insulation and electrical components, along with the pressure-testing of the air-cooled condenser and leak tests of the heat recovery steam generator were completed by mid-2019.
A natural gas line tie-in was installed for the plant and high-voltage power lines were connected to transport the power from the plant to the local electrical grid.
Contractors involved
Kiewit Power Contractors was awarded a contract by AES to construct the power plant.
NV5 was awarded an $11m contract for providing delegate chief building official (DCBO) services along with independent review and inspection of the construction. It is also responsible for the engineering design review, document control and construction inspection.
MACOGA Engineered Expansion Joints carried out the engineering, manufacturing, testing and shipping of the expansion joints and large Dog Bone DN 6500, while Fluence supplied Advancion 5 batteries and control systems for the project.
