(Source: Business Wire)Calpine Corporation (NYSE:CPN) today announced that it has successfully placed into service the newly constructed Otay Mesa Energy Center (OMEC) near San Diego, California. The plant, with a capacity of almost 600 megawatts, began commercial operation Oct. 3 and is generating electric power for customers of San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) under a 10-year tolling agreement for the full output of the plant, giving SDG&E the ability to dispatch power and ancillary services from the plant. SDG&E also will supply natural gas to fuel the plant.

OMEC is a state-of-the-art, highly efficient, environmentally responsible combined cycle power plant, fueled with natural gas and fitted with advanced air emissions control equipment. In addition, in a first-of-its-kind program dating back to the beginning of construction, mobile emission reduction credits were created when Calpine paid for retrofitting local marine vessels and sanitation vehicles with vastly improved technology. These permanently retired emissions more than offset emissions from the plant, resulting in a net air quality benefit for the San Diego region. Finally, OMEC is the largest air cooled power plant in the State of California, conserving precious water by eliminating the need to use ground or potable municipal water to cool recirculated steam.

"The Otay Mesa Energy Center demonstrates Calpine's continuing commitment to helping create a sustainable future for Californians by building cleaner, more flexible power plants designed to meet the reliability needs of the State's electric consumers," said Calpine President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Fusco. "We are most pleased to have SDG&E as our contract partner and look forward to continuing our strong, long-term relationship."

"The Otay Mesa Energy Center will play an important role in ourlong-term energy resource plan that includes aggressive energy efficiency programs, more renewable power, local generation and new transmission lines," said Debra L. Reed, President and Chief Executive Officer of San Diego Gas & Electric. "We look forward to the Otay Mesa Energy Center providing clean, cost-effective and reliable energy to our customers for many years to come."

Support for Otay Mesa Energy Center

Calpine has received strong support for this project from the local community to the highest level of State Government.

"In California we are leading the way to a brighter future with more clean power, clean energy and clean technology, and it is projects like this one that will help our state achieve our ambitious environmental and energy goals," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.