BURBANK MAPS PLAN TO REACH RENEWABLE ENERGY GOAL.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

BURBANK - The Burbank Water and Power Board on Thursday gave initial approval of a five-year road map for meeting rising energy demands and still reaching its goal of using 20 percent renewable energy resources by 2017.

Board members voted 4-0, with three members absent, to approve a draft of the city's 2006 Integrated Resource Plan. Their approval paves the way for the City Council to give final approval this summer.

"The purpose of the IRP is to present a plan on how to meet Burbank's future electric needs," said Bruno Jeider, the author of the report, at BWP's headquarters near downtown. "Essentially what the plan has us doing is meeting 100 percent of increased requirements through efficiency, conservation and renewable resources."

The municipal utility, which operates on an annual budget of $300 million a year, serves 45,000 households and 6,000 businesses in the city.

The IRP touts the city's accomplishments in energy conservation programs over the five years, including upgrades to power systems, and the completion a low-emission power plant.

But the utility has also faced at least one major setback. The recently completed $243 million, 250-megawatt Magnolia Power Plant has been working on and off because of problems with a turning gear and, more recently, steam seals, since it began trial runs last summer.

At one point, officials estimated that the city was losing $1 million a month as a result of the plant being down. But there were no power outages as a result because the utility bought its power elsewhere.

Officials hope to have the plant up and running next month. When it goes back online, officials say the Magnolia Power Plant is expected to power some 250,000 homes and businesses in Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Colton, Anaheim and Cerritos.

jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com

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