Dive Summary:

• San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) is hedging its bets against the closing of the San Onofre power plant in June by seeking approval to build a 300 megawatt (MW) natural gas peaker plant in Otay Mesa that the state PUC previously denied in March.
• SDG&E, a unit of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, is hoping that in light of the San Onofre shutdown, the utility can make the case for the Pio Pico peaker plant to run during high demand periods.
• However, given SDG&E’s impressive generation portfolio and many renewable projects in the pipeline, critics aren't fond of SDG&E's plan to build the $300 million plant.
   

From the article:

“Bill Powers, principal of Powers Engineering and a member of the Sierra Club's local chapter, said Southern California "is awash in excess natural gas-fired power plant capacity due to a decade-long building boom that is still underway."

He cited four power plants in the Los Angeles area that will be operating this summer that generate about 2,200 megawatts of electricity. Indeed, there is so much capacity that San Onofre was down for more than a year, and the region hasn't missed it, according to Powers.”