The raging Kincade fire in northern California has damaged and knocked some of Calpine’s The Geysers power plants offline.
Houston-based Calpine operates the world’s largest geothermal power complex in Sonoma and Lake counties in California. The fire originated near the complex’s 45 square miles where more than a dozen geothermal plants generate electricity from naturally occurring steam underground.
Calpine said it does not believe its facilities caused the fire, noting that a number of third parties operate power lines in the area.
As California continues to be decimated by a series of wildfires, the Kincade fire has burned through more than 16,000 acres this week and it still isn’t contained.
The embattled California utility PG&E said Thursday that one of its transmission towers had failed in the area shortly before the fire ignited.
The Geysers complex was previously damaged in the Valley fire of 2015.
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Calpine called the damage relatively minor and said any further threat has passed. However, some of the plants’ operations remain suspended temporarily.
“Consistent with our fire prevention protocols, due to the wind conditions we had de-energized our local power line system before the fire started,” Calpine said.
