The company behind the Quail Brush Power Project has requested a 12-month suspension of their application to build a gas burning power plant near Santee.
This move comes in the wake of a recent Public Utility Commission ruling that denied the power purchase agreement between Quail Brush and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), for the time being.
The letter requesting the suspension specifies they aren't requesting a withdrawl of the application, and they may request to reinstate the application before the 12 months are up. It explains why the company asked for the suspension:
"The suspension will provide time for the Applicant and SDG&E to analyze commercial opportunities for the Project in light of the current or changed circumstances in SDG&E's service territory as well as any amendments that may be needed in the PPTA in light of the CPUC's decision."
The California Energy Commission, the body which would approve the application, replied in a letter that CEC staff doesn't object to the suspension, but the Siting Committee will need to approve of it to make it official.
Cogentrix, the company applying for the plant, made clear in the letter that they plan to move forward with developing the Quail Brush project.
"The Applicant continues to believe that SDG&E and the citizens of San Diego need the flexible generation that the Project would provide, and that development of the Project remains feasible."
Van Collinsworth, Executive Director of Preserve Wild Santee and opponent to the Quail Brush project, has pushed for new renewable energy sources and ways of storing and transferring electricity as the only way to replace gas burning plants.
"The good news of a suspension request by the applicant can be followed by even better news of a withdrawal or denial of the Quail application if we make progress on distributed local solar generation and energy storage," said Collinsworth. "These technologies can be accelerated if we establish Community Energy Districts in San Diego that introduce real competition to SDG&E's outmoded monopolistic model."
