"If plants are not built as the state economy recovers, and if we have
hot summers and low hydroelectricity years, we will be in trouble,"
Cartwright said.
Cartwright said, however, that he was "optimistic that Gov. (Arnold)
Schwarzenegger will get this program back on track and build more plants."
Schwarzenegger unveiled a plan in April to push California regulators into
speedier approval of rules to encourage utilities to sign long-term power
purchase contracts to avoid another energy emergency.
California deregulated its power market in 1996 under a flawed law which
ultimately contributed to blackouts in parts of the state and the bankruptcy of
its largest utility, San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Co., a unit
of PG&E Corp. The utility filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001 after running up billions
of dollars in costs buying power at sky-high prices for its customers which it
was not initially allowed to recover. The utility finally emerged from
bankruptcy earlier this year.
POWER SALES DEALS
San Jose, California-based Calpine is building three new natural gas-fired
power projects in the state and has permits for four more.
"We're working toward getting power sales agreements for those projects
and then we could go forward and build them," Cartwright told shareholders.
California's power grid has already had several close calls this year when
spring heat waves triggered heavy demand for power to run air conditioners.
Summer imports of hydropower from the Pacific Northwest could be crimped by a
record drought that has slashed hydro supplies at Northwest utilities.
Cartwright also noted that California and other regions need more gas
supplies for power stations, and that one or two liquefied natural gas terminals
proposed along the West Coast from British Columbia to Baja California could be
developed.
At the meeting Wednesday, Calpine shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a
proposal by the Calvert Asset Management Co. investment advisory firm that
Calpine not develop a proposed geothermal power project on Indian land in a
remote area in northern California.
Cartwright said Calpine will meet with the Pit River Tribe "to see what
we can work out to accommodate their needs."
"We will continue to monitor and advocate that the company take into
consideration the Pit River Tribe's concerns," said Lily Donge, an analyst
for Calvert.
News Provided By
