Palco - Facilities: Co-Generation Plant

PALCO has been thinking about alternative energy sources for more than 100 years, long before California began to face a series of energy crises.

The company began producing steam in 1890 to power its operations and heat its facilities. The first power plant was built in the 1920’s and by 1984 it was time to build a new, state-of-the-art plant.

The modern 25-megawatt co-generation plant, built in Scotia by General Electric, came on line in 1989. That same year, the facility was recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers for its design and aesthetics, as well as its contribution to the environment. For example, the new power plant reduced particulate air emissions by 340 tons a year, and emissions continue to fall well below permitted levels.

The co-generation plant is one of the major reasons PALCO is an eight-time winner of California’s Waste Reduction Award. Wood waste and yard waste from Scotia residents is used as fuel for the facility, and ash from the plant is sold and recycled. Some of the ash is applied to agricultural land and the carbon is sold to a company that makes activated charcoal filters. Nothing of the forest resource is wasted.

In addition, the co-generation plant utilizes all of the wood wastes from our sawmills to produce electricity to run our manufacturing facilities, light homes and businesses in Scotia, and provide enough power to Pacific Gas and Electric Company to serve a town of 35,000 people — 12.5% of the electricity needs of Humboldt County. We recently renovated an older turbine and are bringing it on-line to provide PG & E with even more electrical power.