Ormond Beach Generating Station Community Engagement

The boundary of the Commission’s jurisdiction at the site is the ordinary high water mark as measured by a mean high tide line. The OBGS’s intake and discharge conduits extend approximately 2,500 feet and 1,800 feet beyond the ordinary high water mark and about 30 feet under the seafloor. All other project components are landward of the ordinary high water mark and outside of the Commission’s jurisdiction, including most of the OBGS and the steam turbine electric generating unit and related infrastructure.

Ormond Beach Power, LLC, a subsidiary of GenOn Inc., owns and operates the station.

The OBGS was expected to begin decommissioning in 2018. But GenOn withdrew its shutdown notice after an analysis showed it was needed to meet Southern California Edison’s (SCE’s) local capacity requirements, and the California Public Utilities Commission required SCE to try to contract with OBGS to keep it open. Since then, SCE has entered into several contractual agreements with OBGS to keep the station open until the end of 2023. The California Public Utilities Commission approved each contract.

In 2022, the Energy Commission and others determined that California needed additional energy sources to protect against power shortages during emergencies. The Legislature passed AB 205, which established a Strategic Reliability Reserve to ensure electrical reliability as California transitions to clean energy to help combat the climate crisis. AB 205 authorizes the Department of Water Resources to contract with energy-generating stations to serve as resources in the Strategic Reserve. The OBGS entered into a contract with the Department in January 2024 to serve as an emergency plant until December 31, 2026.

There are several types of power plants that are used to provide power stability. Emergency plants, like the OBGS, are only turned on during emergencies when the normal plants and the “peaker” plants – plants that are turned on during peak hours – are insufficient to meet power demand. These emergencies are because of power outages due to extreme circumstances like heat waves. Since operating as an emergency plant, OBGS has been turned on for emergency power three times, all during heatwaves in the summer of 2024.

Ormond Beach Power, LLC, a subsidiary of GenOn, applied to the Commission to amend their existing lease to extend the lease to December 31, 2026. A lease amendment must be agreed to by both parties – Ormond Beach Power, LLC, and the Commission. The Commission can approve or deny the lease amendment. The Commission will consider the lease amendment at a public meeting where the public can participate and provide comments. The Commission’s consideration will be informed by a written staff report.

During the State Water Resources Control Board’s 2020 Once-Through Cooling policy amendment process, the City of Oxnard and GenOn negotiated an agreement to demolish and remediate the OBGS. The agreement established a timeline and financial plan, and includes a trust fund. GenOn contributed $25 million to the trust fund, which is equivalent to the estimated cost of decommissioning the plant.

In November 2022, the City of Oxnard and GenOn established an Ormond Beach Park Fund dedicated to the development of a future public park at the OBGS site. The City and GenOn are working to create a City-owned public park at the site.

In early to mid-2025. The Commission could act on the application as early as its April 2 public meeting.

If the Commission denied the amendment, the lease would expire on April 21, 2025. After the lease expires, the lessee is required to remove or decommission the conduits and submit an application to the Commission to authorize decommissioning activities.  Decommissioning activities would need to be analyzed under the California Environmental Quality Act.  If the conduits are not removed and are not authorized by the Commission, they would be trespassing on state property.