Imperial Valley (United States)
Generation, Geothermal

The Project
The project consists of 10 generating plants in the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area in Southern California's Imperial Valley. The plants produce electricity solely from naturally occurring geothermal steam. Geothermal production wells tap into superheated water reservoirs thousands of feet beneath the Earth's surface to release tremendous pressure, caused by the hot water, which rushes to the surface. There, steam is separated and used to drive turbines to generate electricity. Eight of the Imperial Valley facilities – Vulcan, Hoch, Elmore, Leathers and Salton Sea 1, 2, 3 and 4 – are under contract to sell power to Southern California Edison Company under 30-year power purchase agreements. Salton Sea 5 and the CE Turbo plant sell virtually all of their power to third parties. The combined capacity at Imperial Valley is approximately 327 net megawatts (nominal).

Owner/Operator
The existing Imperial Valley power generation facilities are owned by CE Generation, LLC and are operated by CalEnergy Operating Corporation, an indirect subsidiary of CE Generation.

Fuel Source:

Geothermal

Location:

Calipatria, California, U.S.

Telephone:

760-348-4200

Date of Commercial Operation:

CE Turbo:

2000

Elmore:

1989

Leathers:

1990

Vulcan:

1986

Del Ranch:

1989

Salton Sea 1:

1982

Salton Sea 2:

1990

Salton Sea 3:

1989

Salton Sea 4:

1996

Salton Sea 5:

2000

Capacity:

Approximately 327 net megawatts (nominal)

Electricity Purchaser:

Southern California Edison Company (Elmore, Leathers, Vulcan, Del Ranch and Salton Sea Units 1 - 4). Virtually all power from Salton Sea Unit 5 and CE Turbo is sold to third parties

Interconnection and Firm
Transmission Agreement:

Transmission lines, owned and operated by Imperial Irrigation District (IID) are used to interconnect each of the operating power plants, except Salton Sea 1, which delivers power directly to SCE, using the IID transmission lines