Humboldt Bay Power Plant Fossil Units
There are four fossil-fueled units at PG&E's Humboldt Bay Power Plant (HBPP): two steam boiler plants and two combustion turbines. The steam boilers are primarily fueled by natural gas (with an option of fuel oil as a backup) and the two combustion turbines use diesel oil for fuel.
Unit 1 (52 MW) was commissioned in 1956 and Unit 2 (53 MW) was commissioned in 1958. Two Mobile Emergency Power Plants (MEPPs) were placed at the plant in 1976 to produce additional power after the shutdown of the nuclear Unit 3. The MEPPs are trailer-mounted combustion turbine units with separate control trailers. Each MEPP uses a jet engine and gas turbine to drive an electric generator to produce 15 MW. The combination of two fossil units and two MEPPs produces approximately 135 MW at full load. This is enough power to supply approximately 100,000 homes.
Fossil Fueled Plant Dismantlement
The existing Humboldt Bay Power Plant Units 1 and 2 and the two combustion turbine units will be replaced by the 10 new units of the Humboldt Bay Generating Station (HBGS). The new units are designed to run on natural gas, with diesel oil for a backup fuel, producing 160 MW at full load. After the new HBGS units are in service, the older units will be removed. In particular, removing Units 1 and 2 will provide space for the final stages of Unit 3 decommissioning and demolition.
The image places a model of the plant over a 2006 aerial photo of the site, with the HBGS in the foreground (blue structures). The Mobile Electric Power Plants (MEPPs) to the left of the HBGS, the two fossil units (center background between the white and magenta structures), and the associated fuel tanks have been removed.
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