Lake One Power Plant

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Burbank Unveils New Power Plant

 

On July 18, 2002, Burbank Water and Power (BWP) proudly dedicated its new Lake One power plant. Lake One is a 47-megawatt power plant located on-site at BWP, that is already helping BWP meet the City's demand for summer power. Lake One will replace existing power plants that are about 25 years old.

 

The Lake One project is noteworthy for a number of reasons:

 

  • Lake One uses about 25% less fuel than the existing power plants that it will replace while producing 95% less nitrogen oxide emissions (a key ingredient of smog).
  • As an on-site power plant, Lake One has the advantage of allowing BWP to provide power to Burbank in the event of a blackout, such as might occur following an earthquake or other disaster.
  • Lake One can be started quickly and produce full power within ten minutes.

 

The Burbank City Council authorized the power plant in June 2001. The project was licensed, financed, designed, and constructed in one very busy year! BWP brought this project in on time and on budget.

 

On July 18, 2002, the project was officially dedicated. On hand to celebrate the achievement was the full project team, members of Burbank's City Council and BWP's Board, as well as staff from other cities interested in building similar power plants.

Ron Davis, BWP General Manager
Ron Davis, BWP General Manager and Fred Fletcher, BWP Assistant General Manager
Ron Davis speaking with Councilman David Golonski

Burbank Mayor, David Laurell

The following is a short excerpt from Mayor David Laurell's dedication speech:

Last spring it became apparent that Burbank's existing aging combustion turbines had outlived their useful lives. At that time, both the City Council and the utility were faced with having to decide whether or not to replace them. The Council wanted to ensure that any new generation built would be state of the art and have the best emissions controls. We felt that anything built here in the community should be as environmentally safe as possible. I'm pleased to say that Lake One reflects this commitment. It is 50 times cleaner than the older units it replaces. I'm also pleased that BWP is going ahead with retrofitting its Olive 1 and 2 units this winter in order to reduce their emissions levels.

 
Construction of the Lake One power plant was extremely interesting to watch. Construction began on February 5th and was completed in less than six months.
 
Exhaust stack being raised
Construction of the SCR unit where air quality treatment takes place

Work being conducted on the exhaust stack

One view of the jet engine that powers Lake One