Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) Gateway natural gas-fired power plant in California is likely to recommence service by June 2, 2009, a spokeswoman of the company informed. The facility was shut down on May 31, 2009 due to short-term planned work. The power generation capacity of the plant is 530 megawatt (MW). Started service in 2009, the Gateway facility is situated in Antioch, in Contra Costa County, approximately 45 miles east of San Francisco.
The company acquired Gateway from Mirant Corp through the settlement of overcharges for power that was sold during the Western power crisis in 2000-01. That was to be Unit 8 at Mirant’s Contra Costa plant.
The Gateway plant comprises two 180 MW gas turbines and one 250 MW heat recovery steam turbine. The Gateway plant has a baseline capacity of around 530 MW but can reach approximately 610 MW of peaking power.
PG&E, which is based in San Francisco, owns and operates approximately 6,200 MW of generating capacity, transmits and distributes electricity to around 5.3 million customers and natural gas to 4.2 million customers, and markets energy commodities in northern California.