The city of Colton, Calif., held a groundbreaking ceremony Jan. 14th for a new power plant. Construction is expected to be complete and the power plant should be up and running by July 1.
The 43-megawatt power plant will more than compensate for 33 megawatts of power the city is losing as two long-term contracts with energy suppliers expire.
City officials are also looking at bringing Corrugated Services LP, a Texas-based paper company, to the industrial area. The manufacturer of linerboard, medium and coated paper, which are used to make corrugated boxes, would be a neighbor of the power plant on the former Beckett horse ranch. According to a spokeswoman for the city of Colton, the proposed paper mill would take up 26 acres of the 38 acres being used for the power plant development.
"They have signed an option agreement, and if everything goes well, we will work together on attaining a permit with them,' said Stephen Clevett, senior vice president of Noresco, the builder of the power plant. "Both companies would be able to work hand-in-hand at the site.'
If the paper company opts to go forward with the facility it would be several years at least before the mill construction would be complete.
Massachusetts-based Noresco, which operates about a dozen domestic power plants in the United States and four international power plants will operate and manage Colton's plant. San Bernadino (Calif.) Sun.