Otay Mesa Generating Project is a natural gas-fired power facility with 710.7 MW of EIA-reported nameplate capacity in San Diego County, California, registered as EIA Plant ID 55345. Otay Mesa Energy Center LLC is the registered plant entity or operator. Calpine Corporation acquired the project from PG&E National Energy Group in 2001.
EIA-reported nameplate capacity; other nameplate and seasonal ratings may differ.
Primary generation technology.
Otay Mesa Energy Center LLC · San Diego County · CAISO
Otay Mesa Generating Project is currently operating; a closure or retirement is listed for February 20, 2025.
230 kV · San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)
Best-supported operating milestone.
Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle
Otay Mesa Generating Project is currently operating; a closure or retirement is listed for February 20, 2025.
Otay Mesa Generating Project is currently operating; a closure or retirement is listed for February 20, 2025.
Similar plants ranked by technology, capacity, and distance.
Operating generator records and technology attributes reported through EIA-860.
| Generator | Capacity | Technology | Operation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-01 | 210 MW 159.3 MW summer | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle Natural Gas · CT | Oct 2009 | Operating |
| 1-02 | 210 MW 156.6 MW summer | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle Natural Gas · CT | Oct 2009 | Operating |
| 1-03 | 290.7 MW 276.9 MW summer | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle Natural Gas · CA | Oct 2009 | Operating |
Monthly EIA generation history and recent market-resource behavior where linked telemetry is available.
Deterministic links to ERCOT market resources, price records, outage disclosures, queue records, and nearby infrastructure. Candidate joins remain labeled until corroborated.
Source-backed project transactions, agreements, land records, permits, and environmental disclosures. Portfolio and adjacent-project facts remain explicitly scoped.
Parties, market resources, and identifiers tied to this asset, with owner, operator, developer, EPC, compliance provider, and interconnecting entity roles kept separate.
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Project milestones and public references behind the asset profile.
The California Energy Commission certified the Otay Mesa project under CEC docket 99-AFC-05.
230 kV · San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)
CAISO
CAISO · San Diego County
Monthly generation is reported through EIA-923. Capacity factor uses the current EIA nameplate capacity and is shown only for complete calendar years.
Portfolio membership follows the latest EIA-860 reporting entity. It does not imply ultimate ownership.
Calpine completed its acquisition of the exact Otay Mesa Generating Project from PG&E National Energy Group. The SEC filing reports a $4.9 million purchase price plus assumption of a capital lease obligation. The asset was identified in contemporary records as being in San Diego County, California.
As part of the project sale, PG&E National Energy Group agreed to a 10-year tolling arrangement for up to 250 MW of Otay Mesa output. This tolling agreement is separate from the later SDG&E offtake arrangement.
OMEC obtained a $377 million project-finance credit facility. The construction loan was to convert to a term loan at commercial operation, and Calpine said construction would recommence in May 2007 with startup, testing, and commissioning targeted for May 2009.
EIA-860 lists generator 1-01, generator 1-02, generator 1-03 with this operating date.
The California Energy Commission records the start of commercial operation for Otay Mesa Energy Center on October 3, 2009.
At the end of the original 10-year PPA, Calpine’s subsidiary rescinded the put option that would have required SDG&E to purchase the plant for $280 million. SDG&E instead entered a 59-month power-purchase agreement, and Calpine employees continued operating the facility.
The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District record documents a Title V permit renewal and minor modifications involving the facility’s existing natural-gas turbine equipment; it does not document a completed retirement or repowering.
Answered from the published record above. Questions whose inputs this profile does not carry are omitted rather than estimated.
Otay Mesa Generating Project has a reported capacity of 710.7 MW. Source: EIA Form 860.
Otay Mesa Generating Project is a Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle facility in San Diego County, CA, participating in the CAISO market.
Otay Mesa Generating Project is in San Diego County, CA, inside the CAISO balancing area.
Otay Mesa Generating Project is operated by Otay Mesa Energy Center LLC according to the EIA generator inventory. Reporting membership does not by itself establish ultimate ownership.
Otay Mesa Generating Project reported 1,298.3 GWh over the twelve months to 2026-06. Figures are net generation as filed to EIA-923.
Otay Mesa Generating Project interconnects at Otay Mesa Substation, on the San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) system.
By capacity, Otay Mesa Generating Project ranks #176 of 538 operating plants of the same technology nationally. It ranks #8 of 64 in CA.
Plants within 25 km, nearest first, regardless of technology. Proximity is straight-line distance between mapped plant coordinates; it does not by itself establish a shared point of interconnection.
