Encorp Helps Ease California's Stressed Utility Industry

With California's 2001 summertime energy crisis looming, NEO Corp., an independent power producer and subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc., decided to build two distributed-generation systems (power plants) that produce nearly 100 megawatts of electricity to help meet the Golden State's overwhelming power needs - without adding expensive transmission systems.

In an astonishing five months, the project team of NEO, Encorp and Stewart & Stevenson Distributed Energy Solutions brought online the Chowchilla II plant in central California. The 81,000-square-foot plant, which can be used as a peaking, intermediate or baseload facility, features 16 Deutz natural gas reciprocating engines. Together the engines generate a total of 49 MW, enough power to meet the energy needs of 50,000 homes.

Less than two months later, NEO's 74,000-square-foot Red Bluff plant in northern California commissioned and placed into operation its 16 Wartsila natural gas reciprocating generators and began providing up to 45 MW of electricity into the California grid as needed. Red Bluff's 16 generators are aggregated with Chow II's 16 generators hundreds of miles away, making nearly 100 MW of electricity available for capacity and energy transactions.

Encorp Equipment Installed:

• Generator Power Control™
• Digital Paralleling Switchgear
• Virtual Maintenance Monitor™ software
• Virtual Power Plant™ software
• Utility Power Control™
• Meter Monitor Control™
• Communication Processor Module
• Dispatch Workstation

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