Mirant Corp's 682-megawatt Unit 7 at the Pittsburg natural gas-fired power station returned to service by Friday afternoon but was out of service for normal reasons by Sunday afternoon, the California Independent System Operator said in a report.
Traders noted normal reasons usually mean the unit is available for service but not operating during a period of low demand, like at night or over the weekend when power consumption is low and the unit is not needed. Unit 7 shut on July 3 for a combination of planned and unplanned work. On July 6, the unit returned to service but had 342 MW still curtailed for planned and unplanned work.
On July 8, the unit was out of service again for a combination of unplanned, planned and normal reasons. The 1,311 MW station is in Contra Costa County about 40 miles east of San Francisco. There are three units at the station, the 312 MW Unit 5, the 317 MW Unit 6 and the 682 MW Unit 7.