New 850MW Calif Unit On Line By Summer

Los Angeles, CA -- Constellation Energy Group Inc. ((CEG.N)) expects to bring its new 850 megawatt High Desert gas-fired power plant in Southern California on line in "early summer", a company spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

"We are doing some testing but we haven't come on line yet. We are still aiming for early summer," the spokeswoman said.

Speculation about the status of the plant was heightened by its inclusion of the California Independent System Operator's outage list on Wednesday.

One megawatt is roughly enough power for 1,000 homes.

The California ISO produces updates four times each day, detailing which power plants within its control area are currently either off line or curtailed.

California ISO spokesman Gregg Fishman said the unit had been put on the list as a "kind of placeholder" but the state agency did not expect to be able to count on any output from the plant yet.

Reuters