Beacon Solar Energy Project

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Beacon Solar Energy Project

CEC Informational Hearing

June 11, 2008

DATE RECD.

DOCKET

08-AFC-2 JUN 11 2008 JUN 16 2008

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FPL Group is a Premier U.S. Energy Company

A Growing, Diversified Company

Market Capitalization as of May 23, 2008; All other data as of December 31, 2007

Florida Power & Light

FPL Group

• One of the largest U.S. electric utilities • Vertically integrated, retail rate-regulated • 4.5 MM customer accounts

• 22,135 MW in operation

• $11.6 B in operating revenues • $24.0 B in assets

• Successful wholesale generator • U.S. leader in renewable generation • Assets in 26 states • 15,543 MW in operation • $3.5 B in operating revenues • $14.5 B in assets

FPL Energy

• $26.7 B market capitalization • 37,678 MW in operation • $15.3 B operating revenue • $40.1 B in total assets

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FPL Energy, LLC

• A leading clean energy provider with natural gas, wind, solar, hydroelectric and nuclear power plants in operation in 25 states

• The largest generator of solar energy in the country through operations in California’s Mojave Desert (currently operates seven solar facilities)

• Solar Energy is a valuable part of FPL Energy’s clean and renewable energy mix and the company will continue to evaluate solar energy for additional opportunities as

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FPL Energy Portfolio

Stateline Stateline (wind) (wind) Vansycle

Vansycle(wind) (wind)

POSDEF (coal) POSDEF (coal) SEGS (solar) SEGS (solar) Blythe Blythe (CC) (CC) Gray County Gray County (wind) (wind) Lamar (CC) Lamar (CC) Forney (CC) Forney (CC)

Southwest Mesa (wind)

Woodward Mt. (wind)

Indian Mesa (wind)

King Mt. (wind)

Lake Benton II (wind)

Somerset Somerset (wind) (wind) Doswell Doswell(CC/CT) )(CC/CT) ) Cherokee Cherokee (CC) (CC)

Maine Hydro System

Cape (GT Oil) Cape (GT Oil) W.F. Wyman (Oil) W.F. Wyman (Oil) Operating Operating Under construction/ Under construction/ development development (as of 04/30/08) (as of 04/30/08) Bayswater Bayswater(CT)(CT) Montfort Montfort (wind) (wind) Calhoun Calhoun (CT) (CT) Bellingham Bellingham (CC) (CC) Mountaineer Mountaineer (wind) (wind)

North Dakota (wind)

South Dakota (wind)

Cerro Cerro Gordo Gordo (wind) (wind) Marcus Hook Marcus Hook (CT & CC) (CT & CC) Hancock Hancock (wind) (wind) New Mexico New Mexico (wind) (wind) High Winds High Winds (wind) (wind) Jamaica Bay (CT) Jamaica Bay (CT) Delaware Mt. Delaware Mt. (wind) (wind)

Rhode Island State Energy Center

(CC) (CC) Mill Run Mill Run (wind) (wind) Green Green Mountain Mountain (wind) (wind) Sayreville Sayreville (CC) (CC) Waymart Waymart (wind) (wind) Oklahoma Oklahoma (wind) (wind) Wyoming (wind) Wyoming (wind) Meyersdale Meyersdale (wind) (wind) Cabazon (wind) Cabazon (wind) Green Power Green Power (wind) (wind) Seabrook (nuclear) Seabrook (nuclear) WPP93 WPP93 (wind) (wind) WPP93 (wind) WPP93 (wind) WPP94 (wind) WPP94 (wind) Weatherford Weatherford (wind) (wind) Horse Horse

Hollow I, II & III

(wind) (wind) Wilton (wind) Wilton (wind) Duane Duane Arnold Arnold (nuclear) (nuclear)

Oliver I & II (wind)

Mower Mower (wind) (wind) Diablo (wind) Diablo (wind) WPP90 (wind) WPP90 (wind) WPP91 (wind) WPP91 (wind) WPP91 WPP91--92 (wind)92 (wind) WPP92 (wind) WPP92 (wind)

Green Ridge (wind)

Mojave 3 & 5 (wind)

Mojave 16/17/18

(wind)

Sky River (wind)

TPC (wind)

Victory Garden (wind)

Red Canyon (wind)

Peetz

PeetzTable Table (wind) (wind) Callahan Divide Callahan Divide (wind) (wind) Point Beach Point Beach (nuclear) (nuclear) Endeavor (wind) Endeavor (wind) Langdon (wind) Langdon (wind) Birch (coal) Birch (coal) Ebensburg (coal) Ebensburg (coal) Montgomery County Montgomery County (waste) (waste) Logan (wind) Logan (wind) Crystal Lake Crystal Lake (wind) (wind) Story County Story County (wind) (wind) Capricorn Ridge Capricorn Ridge And Expansion And Expansion (wind) (wind) Wolf

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Beacon Project Objectives

• To construct, operate and maintain an efficient,

economic, reliable, safe and environmentally-sound solar powered generating facility

• To meet the State of California objectives mandated by SB 1078 (California Renewable Portfolio Standard

Program)

• To meet the State of California objectives of AB 32 (California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006)

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Project Overview

• Electrical output of 250 megawatts

• Project will use proven parabolic trough mirror solar thermal technology

• Solar energy will provide 100 percent of the power generated by the plant

• Project will utilize two auxiliary boilers fueled by natural gas to reduce startup time and to provide freeze

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Project Components

• A roughly 2,000 acre site containing:

– Solar arrays

– Power block with steam turbine and cooling tower – Evaporation ponds

– Rerouted drainage channel

– Administration building and other facilities

• A new 17.6-mile, eight-inch gas pipeline along Neuralia Road to connect the Project to an existing Southern

California Gas Company pipeline west of California City • A new approximately 3 mile transmission line to

connect the Project to the Barren Ridge Substation (2 options being considered)

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Why this site?

• Kern County- excellent solar resource

• Site previously disturbed by intensive farming

• Close proximity to transmission infrastructure, making it an ideal site in terms of minimizing environmental

impacts

• Site has available water resources to allow wet cooling in order to optimize power generation efficiency and reduce Project cost

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Mojave Desert

Source: NREL.gov

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Environmental Review

• Air Quality

• Biological Resources

• Cultural Resources

• Geological Resources and

Hazards • Hazardous Materials Handling • Land Use • Noise • Paleontological Resources • Public Health • Socioeconomics • Soils

• Traffic and Transportation • Transmission System

Safety & Nuisance

• Visual Resources

• Waste Management

• Water Resources

• Worker Safety

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Biological Resources

• Site is largely disturbed due to previous intensive agricultural operations

• Extensive biological surveys have been performed

• Some habitat (<6 acres) for desert tortoise and Mohave ground squirrel will be impacted west of the site along the transmission line route

• Biological permitting with the California Dept. of Fish and Game and U.S Fish and Wildlife Service has been initiated

• Proposed mitigation would ensure that impacts are reduced to less than significant levels

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Geologic Hazards

• Two California designated earthquake fault zones are present within the site

• All Project structures will be designed to meet Seismic Zone 4

• Critical structures such as the power block, evaporation ponds and administration buildings will be placed

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Land Use Consistency

• Project site is almost completely vacant and

significantly disturbed from past agricultural activities • Consistent with Zoning ordinance (Exclusive

Agriculture or Limited Agriculture)

• General Plan (GP) Land Use designations:

– Majority of plant site is designated for Resource uses (consistent with GP)

– Northern portion of the plant site has a residential land use designation (will need a GP Amendment)

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Visual Resources

• Project structure, stacks and transmission line

structures will be a neutral color and surfaces will be non-reflective

• No significant glare would be expected

• From elevated locations at certain times of the day, the facility would contrast substantially with the

surrounding environment (resemble a body of water) • Transmission line will cross Highway 14

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Water Resources

• Water is needed for:

– Wet cooling tower for power plant cooling

– Industrial uses (process water makeup, mirror washing, etc.) – Employee use (drinking, showers, sinks, and toilets)

• Supplied by existing onsite wells (without significant effects on other users or on the groundwater basin) • Alternative water sources are continuing to be

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Groundwater Usage

• Project located in the Koehn Sub-basin of the Fremont Valley Groundwater Basin

• Groundwater dropped 200-250 feet during

agricultural pumping, but has since recovered 100-130 feet in local wells

• The Fremont Valley Groundwater Basin has a storage capacity of about 5M acre-feet

• Project will use 1,600 acre feet per year

• Project will not significantly affect groundwater recharge, instead it will slow the rate of recovery

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Project Schedule

• Construction to begin in 2009 with a goal of completion in 2011

• Project is to be owned and operated by Beacon Solar LLC

• The new natural gas pipeline will be owned and operated by the Southern California Gas Company