CEC to Host Public Workshop on AES Redondo Beach

Representatives of the California Energy Commission will host on Thursday the second public meeting in the application process for a new power plant on North Harbor Drive with a workshop.

The current AES Redondo Beach Generating Station must be retired, rebuilt, retrofitted or receive a special exemption to continue operating past 2020 due to a ban on once-through cooling, where ocean water is used to cool the superheated steam that spins the turbines.

The new power plant, which would have less than half the generation capacity as the current one, would take up about 10 1/2 acres of the existing 50-acre site. If the plant is approved, construction and demolition of the old plant will begin in January 2016 and end by December 2020. 

• Complete coverage: AES Redondo Beach power plant

AES Southland, which owns the power plant, submitted its application to repower—rebuild—the generating station last November. The application was deemed "data adequate," meaning that there was enough information to proceed to the next step of the process, in late August.

The CEC will ultimately determine whether the new plant can be built; Thursday's workshop is part of the public application process.

The first public hearing was held in October.

Thursday's workshop is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. in the Seascape Ballroom at the Crowne Plaza on Harbor Drive; the public comment portion will begin at 6 p.m. 

Redondo Beach city officials plan to attend the hearing, and City Attorney Mike Webb will present the CEC with a negative declaration and temporary moratorium on the construction of power generating facilities in Redondo Beach's Coastal Zone.

The moratorium, which the council passed unanimously Tuesday night, is designed to create a conflict with local laws, which city officials hope will force the CEC to perform a power needs analysis to determine whether power from AES Redondo Beach will be needed in the foreseeable future. If an application does not conflict with local ordinances and regulations, a power needs analysis will not be performed.

The Crowne Plaza is located at 300 N. Harbor Drive in South Redondo Beach.

Those who can't attend the workshop in person may join the meeting via telephone, WebEx or both. For more information on how to connect remotely, see Page 5 of this document.