Project Manager: James W. Reede, Jr.

Staff Counsel: David Abelson

Hearing Officer: Garret Shean

Presiding Member: Commissioner Michal Moore

AFC Filing, Data Adequacy, and Project Description

The Mountainew Power Project AFC was filed on February 1, 2000 for a nominal 1056 MW, natural gas-fired merchant plant at Redlands California in San Bernardino County. Applicant Mountainview Power Company's site was the existing San Bernardino Power Plant, which Southern California Edison (SCE) had sold as part of utility divestiture. This was another giant project, comparable in capacity to Moss Landing. Mountainview was found to be data adequate by the Energy Commission on May 17, 2000.

Absent local opposition, a new powerplant at the site of an existing facility can take full advantage of the utility infrastructure left behind, including electrical interconnection capacity, water treatment, supply, and discharge facilities, plus the highly disturbed nature of the site. With the exception of several former utility plants on the California coast, most utility sites are in primarily industrial areas, where few issues are likely to emerge.

Such was the situation with Mountainview. There appear to have been virtually no local participants, and only California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE) intervened. However, the record indicates that CURE was inactive. Benefiting from these favorable conditions, the Mountainview AFC was completed in approximately ten months.

While staff and applicant had some difficulty working out the fine points of Air Quality, the issue was not adjudicated. In fact, no issues were formally adjudicated between the parties, leading to an uncontested case.

Adoption.

The Energy Commission unanimously licensed (certified) the Mountainview Power Project on March 21, 2001.

Mountainview was scheduled to begin operations in the summer of 2003. However, the project became another victim of financing problems in California's highly confused electricity marketing climate. If re-financing and construction both proceed, the new completion target of early 2006 could be realistic.