Riverside, Calif. – Riverside Public Utilities’ (RPU) newest local power generation units have achieved their commercial operation status and are now ready to serve the city of Riverside’s electrical needs during times of peak use and in emergency situations.The generation units are located at RPU’s Riverside Energy Resource Center (RERC), a 16-acre site adjacent to the city’s water quality control plant on Acorn Street. RERC’s first two generators, units 1 & 2, were completed in June 2006.

With the completion of units 3 & 4, RERC now features four state-of-the-art 48 megawatt (MW) simple-cycle combustion turbines and generators that can produce a total of 192 MW (one megawatt is enough power for approximately 750 southern California homes).

“These plants could not have been made possible without the commitments of Riverside’s leaders who recognized years ago the tremendous importance of creating local power plants to help serve our city’s needs,” said RPU General Manager David H. Wright. “These plants help us to keep energy rates low for our customers, increase our reliability, and offer valuable resources to Riverside in the event of an emergency or natural disaster.”

Since RPU is limited in the amount of energy it can bring in to the city, having internal generation units like those at RERC are essential in meeting customer needs during peak summer months. RPU also operates a 40 MW power plant at its Springs Substation, and 30 MW combined cycled power generation plant at the Clearwater Water Treatment Plant located in Corona which help increase the city’s capacity to meet these peak energy demands. Additionally, local power plants are essential in times of emergency, should Riverside’s outside power connections be disrupted.

RPU will host a dedication ceremony for the two new RERC power plants on May 25th.

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