I find it incredible, that the amount of BS coming from the crooks and con artists involved in the Victorville power plant tax ripoff scam is actually increasing as it nears startup. Please explain the specific details as to how the High Desert taxpayers will be making money after the $800 Million TAX Dollar investment? The first power plant has lost money and the Victorville general fund is in debt of $3.5 million dollars. Most of us have S.C. Edison as our electricity provider and will not be given a discount like the commercial users get-(10%) from the power plant. The $800 million will never get paid back to the taxpayers at the current rate of return from a taxpayer funded powerplant in Victorville-0%. How long before the Taxpayers see a return? How many years and at what % will the money be returned after the developers take their profits? The people in Victorville should be demanding these answers or stop complaining about the lack of public services-public safety-gridlock-and all the other public issues that local government should be investing our tax dollars into. Read the doubletalk from the latest story. What are the odds of the public benefitting in any way from this scam? Same as the profit from the first powerplant. ZERO-NADA- ZIP.
"Revenues will be passed potentially back to the residents of the High Desert."
"Cities in the High Desert will have the opportunity to join the Community Choice Aggregation to benefit directly from the plant, meaning they will start to see their monthly power bills go down."
Really? Do we have this choice now? Yes- Since 2004.
If we have Edison do we get a discount? No. Do we have municiple utilities? No. Has any High Desert city opted to join? No.
What is Community Choice Aggregation?
Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), as defined by AB 117, permits any city, county or city and county to aggregate the electric loads of residents, businesses and municipal facilities to facilitate the purchase and sale of electrical energy. Prior to AB 117, individual customer participation in electric load aggregation programs required their positive written declaration indicating their choice to participate (opt-in programs). In contrast, CCA under AB 117 provides for aggregating customer loads within city or county boundaries, but each customer is given an opportunity to leave their community's aggregation program and thereby continue to be served by the incumbent distribution utility (opt-out program). If a customer makes no negative declaration, that customer is served through the CCA program. This is a major departure from previous aggregation structures as it frees the aggregator from the need to market the program and ensures wide-scale customer participation.
The community choice aggregator must inform participating customers at least 60 days in advance of the date commencing automatic enrollment. Distribution utilities are directed to cooperate fully with any community choice aggregator in its efforts to develop their aggregation program including providing all necessary data as well as to continue to provide all metering, billing, collection, and customer service to retail customers that participate in CCA programs. Community Aggregation programs cannot begin until departing load fees are determined, and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has determined rules and protocols for implementing aggregation programs. The CPUC will deciding these issues in 2004 under Rulemaking # R.03-10-003.
City’s hybrid power plant progressing
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series on solar power in the High Desert
By RACHEL BYRD Staff Writer
VICTORVILLE — In the next few years, Victorville will become the home to the county’s first hybrid gas and solar facility — and the plant is to be the largest of it’s kind in the world.
According to the developer and city officials, power will not be the only thing generated at the plant.
Rather than taking money from High Desert taxpayers, the plant is expected to bring money to the taxpayers, said Victorville City Manager Jon Roberts.
The project, projected to cost between $700 million and $800 million dollars, will be financed based on revenues from the electricity, at no cost to taxpayers, said Tom Barnett, executive vice president of developer Inland Energy Inc.
“The city expects to generate significant revenues from it,” Barnett said. “Revenues will be passed potentially back to the residents of the High Desert, in the first instance in the form of cheaper power, and in the second, having that cheaper power attracts more industry that will create more jobs.”
The plant was originally projected to cost closer to $500 million, but with the worldwide demand for electric power, the costs of generating equipment have gone through the roof, Barnett said, resulting in the current, much higher cost.
Inland Energy Inc. is in the final stages of permitting for the plant, Victorville 2, near Southern California Logis- tics Airport, and they expect to break ground this spring and be operating in the summer of 2010, Barnett said.
The plant will include 250 acres of solar panels that will generate 50 megawatts of energy and a gas-power “combined cycle” plant that will produce 500 megawatts of natural gas, Barnett said.
The electricity generated at the plant will connect to the grid that serves most of Southern California, Barnett said, and cities in the High Desert will have the opportunity to join the Community Choice Aggregation to benefit directly from the plant, meaning they will start to see their monthly power bills go down.
“It puts the city on the map in terms of developing competent renewable energy,” Roberts said, adding that he expects to see the cost of generation decrease.
In light of recent blackouts and brownouts in Southern California, Roberts said having reliable power generated in the community is the main benefit of the plant.
In the past, some companies have chosen to not locate in Victorville because of concerns with the cost and reliability of energy. The city entered in to the power generating business to attract jobs, and the reduction of cost to customers in the city is an added benefit, Roberts said.
City OKs $173 million for power plant
November 27, 2007 - 6:43PM
VICTORVILLE — The City Council has authorized $173 million to buy natural gas-fired turbines from General Electric for its massive power plant project north of the former George Air Force Base.
By contrast, the entire city budget was $245 million for 2007-08.
Total construction for the entire plant, to be completed by 2010, is expected to reach $800 million.
The money for the project — called Victorville 2 — will come from a bond issue, most likely under the economic development authority for the former base, and will not affect the city’s general fund, said Mayor Terry E. Caldwell.
The contract comes before any permit has been issued for the 550-megawatt project by the California Energy Commission. But city officials say it worth the risk; the sale was necessary to lock in a lower price and save time.
“Had we not taken this deal, it probably would have delayed us two years, and $30 million to $40 million,” Caldwell said.
There is an escape clause, said Tom Barnett, executive vice president of Inland Energy, the city’s consultant partner in the project.
“We have the ability to cancel, and there are ... termination fees. Because the equipment itself is so valuable, there’s a long line of people who want this stuff, and the termination fees are relatively small.”
The project is the first hybrid natural gas-solar plant in the country. It will combine 500 megawatts of natural gas-fired turbines and 50 megawatts of solar panels over 250 acres.
GE’s “quick-start” natural gas-fired turbines are in high demand in Europe right now, said Robert French, general manager of General Electric’s western region. “We have close to 400 units going overseas.”
Because of the soaring demand and high materials prices, Caldwell said, the city would have lost its place in the “queue.”
The mayor signed the contract at GE’s hangar at the former base, now called Southern California Logistics Airport. Also signing the contract were G.E. officials French and Ed English, Western Regional Accounting Manager.
The city’s consultant, Newport Beach-based Inland Energy, expects the California Energy Commission to approve the project by April, and groundbreaking would begin in the spring. The city hopes to finish the project by 2010. Not only would the electricity feed the California grid, but the city wants to use some of the power to sell it at a discount, thereby luring companies — and jobs — to town.
“We’re saying to companies thinking of leaving the state, ‘Don’t leave California. Stop in Victorville. We have something to offer you,’ ” Caldwell said.
City could own power plant
November 27, 2007 - 7:05PM
VICTORVILLE — The city is considering owning the Victorville 2 hybrid power plant and using its profits to generate revenue for the general fund.
The alternative would be selling the plant to a private company, as the city did with a similar plant called the High Desert Power Project.
As Republicans, Mayor Terry Caldwell and his fellow City Council members have traditionally opposed big government. Big government would seem to include selling power.
But Caldwell, commenting at the signing of a $173 million contract for plant equipment on Tuesday, said he was bound to look at all possibilities for generating revenue.
“I can’t say there is a limit to what the city should or shouldn’t be involved in,” Caldwell said. “We have an obligation to be fiscally prudent. We have the opportunity to maximize the return on investment for the citizens of Victorville.”
Caldwell added that if the city owns the plant, a private partner would be brought in to run it.
“We will hire a company to operate it, to actually be in the power business, because we’re not,” he said.
The general fund, usually the bulk of a city’s budget, pays for city operations including public safety and fire protection.
Because Victorville has no property tax, officials have been looking for ways to expand the general fund — in addition to sales tax.
Because of what city officials are calling a high demand for the GE equipment, council members put a rush on the vote — announcing the item after a closed session, with most of the public already gone home.
Only three council members were present for the vote — Caldwell, Mike Rothschild and Rudy Cabriales.
“There was an expression of support and agreement to go forward with this by all five members of the council,” Caldwell said.
The city’s attorney, Andre de Bortnowsky, said the vote had an element of urgency because of the possibility of the equipment price going up.
If the city decides to own the power plant, the $800 million construction financing will be paid back with revenue from the power plant. If the city sells it, the financing will be paid back with a 1 percent property tax revenue on the plant.
The cities of Riverside, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Alameda are among several that own their own power plant operation.
So far, the city’s foray into the power business has netted a debit of nearly $3.5 million from the general fund. The city’s fledgling municipal utility, which sells power to commercial customers at a 10 percent discount below Southern California Edison, has yet to turn a profit.
