# Los Esteros Critical Energy Center

CAISO asset profile · https://askthegrid.com/assets/facilities/los-esteros-critical-energy-center

Calpine, LLC - Santa Clara County - CAISO

Los Esteros Critical Energy Facility (LECEF) is a 306–320 MW natural-gas-fired combined-cycle power plant located at 800 Thomas Foon Chew Way in northern San Jose, Santa Clara County, California. The facility began as a 180 MW simple-cycle peaker in March 2003, owned and operated by Calpine Corporation. In 2004, the facility was transferred to Los Esteros Critical Energy Facility LLC. Phase 2 conversion to combined-cycle operation, certified in October 2006, added four heat-recovery steam generators, a nominal 140 MW steam turbine generator, and a six-cell cooling tower, bringing total capacity to approximately 309–320 MW. The upgraded facility commenced commercial operation in August 2013. LECEF now comprises five operating generators: four General Electric LM6000PC Sprint gas turbines and one steam turbine. The facility operates as an independent power producer under CAISO market oversight, serving Pacific Gas and Electric Company under a ten-year power purchase agreement and providing flexible, dispatchable natural-gas-fired generation capacity to support Silicon Valley's electricity demand. A separately metered, 200 MW lithium-ion battery-storage project (Tanager BESS) has been proposed as a co-located addition on the same parcel.

## Metrics

- **Nameplate capacity:** 306.1 MW — Canonical EIA plant baseline.
- **Registry anchor:** Plant 55748 — plant-55748

## Facts

- **Technology:** Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle
- **Operator:** Calpine, LLC

## Related parties

- **Parent company:** Constellation Energy Corporation — parent company ([source](https://www.constellationenergy.com/))
- **Market operator:** California Independent System Operator — market operator ([source](https://www.caiso.com/))
- **Regulator:** California Energy Commission — regulator and certifying authority ([source](https://www.energy.ca.gov/))
- **Fuel supplier / interconnecting utility:** Pacific Gas and Electric Company — fuel supplier and interconnection counterparty ([source](https://www.pge.com/))
- **Equipment supplier:** General Electric — original gas-turbine supplier ([source](https://www.gevernova.com/gas-power/products/gas-turbines/lm6000))

## Sources

- [efiling.energy.ca.gov](https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=221637) — efiling.energy.ca.gov · authoritative — Source retained for exact-record publication review.
- [efiling.energy.ca.gov](https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/Lists/DocketLog.aspx?docketnumber=01-AFC-12) — efiling.energy.ca.gov · authoritative — Source retained for exact-record publication review.
- [efiling.energy.ca.gov](https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/Lists/DocketLog.aspx?docketnumber=03-AFC-02) — efiling.energy.ca.gov · authoritative — Source retained for exact-record publication review.

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Canonical page: https://askthegrid.com/assets/facilities/los-esteros-critical-energy-center
Website: [Calpine, LLC](https://www.calpine.com/)

Source: Ask the Grid — https://askthegrid.com/