Redondo ReBranded: Century-old power plant site shut down
No longer will Redondo Beach be defined by its century-old waterfront electric power generating station
by Garth Meyer
It began with a man singing the national anthem, the crowd looking to a flag at the main Redondo Beach Post Office. In the other direction, down the vacant field stood the massive power plant, palm trees at the edges, Palos Verdes Peninsula, a cloud bank and further out, Catalina Island.
Harbor Commissioner and activist Jim Light welcomed the crowd Dec. 31, on the occasion of the last day of operation for the AES power plant.
He noted that the first Redondo generating station on the site was built in 1907, at the old salt lake, commissioned by Henry Huntington to run his electric streetcar (Red Car) line throughout greater L.A.
The plant was shut down in 1933, deemed obsolete. After World War II, amidst the subsequent housing boom, Southern California Edison proposed to build a new plant at Redondo Beach.
Construction began in 1948, and in 1968, the last units came online.
Thirty years later, “Heart of the City” arrived, the proposal by AES Corporation, who bought the power plant from Southern California Edison, to replace the old operation with a small, modern facility, and 3,000 condominiums.
“That’s what really started the tidal wave of resident activism on this,” Light said to the people gathered in the field New Year’s Eve. “… Today is the day they can no longer power up. They are done.”

Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand, at right with hand on the switch, and City Attorney Mike Webb ceremonially close down the AES power plant Dec. 31. With them, at far left is Jim Light, King Harbor Commissioner and activist; Ray Jackson, Hermosa Beach city councilman; State Senator Ben Allen, Webb, Brand, State Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, Dean Francois, Hermosa Beach mayor pro-tem; and Jessalyn Waldon, deputy, constituent engagement for L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell’s office. Photo by Kevin Cody
The crowd applauded and cheered.
Mayor Bill Brand, who pushed and organized, and fought for this cause since 2001, stepped to the podium for remarks. He got involved in opposing the plant after seeing it discussed by the planning commission on local TV.
“Hard work just makes it all the more gratifying,” Brand said. “This truly is a historic day.”
Then he acknowledged the plant’s contribution to the area.
“This plant has served this whole region well,” he said. “We owe AES a great deal of gratitude and respect.”
In 2010, the California State Water Board scheduled the plant to close in 2020, as part of its plan to shut down all ocean-cooled power plants. The date was ultimately extended to 2023.
Four similar coastal, ocean-cooled power plants will keep operating: Oxnard, Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos and Scattergood, near El Segundo.
“After 20 years of public drama: initiatives, ballots… the public has won,” Brand said to the crowd. “After this, we don’t know what’s going to happen. We do know this power plant is closing. There will be something better if the public stays engaged.”
He quoted Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Brand praised the late Tom O’Leary, a resident and former labor organizer who complained about the power plant’s noise at 30 consecutive Redondo Beach City Council meetings, until the council addressed the issue with a noise ordinance in January 1978.
Following his death, a tree was planted at city hall in his memory.
Brand was thanked at last week’s ceremony for his decades’ long efforts by speakers including Hermosa Beach Councilman Ray Jackson, who went to Sacramento with him to lobby state agencies to close the plant.
“Raise your hand if you never thought this would happen,” Redondo City Attorney Mike Webb said. He told the crowd a more likely event on Dec. 31, 2023, was a ribbon cutting for a new power plant.

Protests against the “Heart of the City” project, which would have created a new smalller, power plant on the AES site, along with 3,000 condominiums. Easy Reader file photo
AES had applied to build a new operation in 2012 – after the 10-year state shutdown plan was announced. The proposed new plant would not be ocean-cooled.
Webb cited “hundreds of letters” in opposition to AES’ application that residents sent to the state energy commission.
“The July 8, 2015 Coastal Commission meeting is when things really changed,” he said.
Six acres at the AES Redondo site was determined to be wetlands “and they pulled their application,” Webb said.
Webb grew up in Manhattan Beach. He told the New Year’s eve crowd that there had not been a day in his lifetime that Redondo Beach did not have an operating power plant. Until Jan. 1, 2024.
“Thanks to all of you, South Bay residents will wake up tomorrow without an operating power plant,” he said.
State Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi recalled his interactions Brand.
“After hearing from all sides, I thought, Bill Brand is right, we need to shut down this power plant.”
He commented that the plant would be torn down and, “We’re going to replace it with open space and restore the natural wetlands.”
Muratsuchi and State Senator Ben Allen introduced three bills in recent years to champion the local efforts.
“All killed by special interests in Sacramento,” Muratsuchi said.
Senator Allen also spoke to the crowd.

The current AES plant debuted in 1948.

The original Redondo Beach power plant at its peak in the 1920s.
“Nine and a half years ago, as a candidate for office, I had a four-hour dinner with Bill Brand at Captain Kidd’s,” he said, to hoots of laughter. “It wouldn’t end. That was a good thing.”
He called Brand “dogged, relentless, engaged” in his efforts to close the plant.
Light noted that $15 million has been put together so far in grants for the next chapter.
Reasons
AES sold the power plant to a consortium of investors in 2020.
The 51-acre site is now tied-up in a bankruptcy proceeding over $28 million in outstanding payments the new owners allegedly owe AES.
The dispute hinges, in part, on which party is responsible for environmental cleanup after the shutdown.
The situation played a role in the state’s decision not to extend operations at Redondo Beach.
“The Advisory Committee on Cooling Water Intake Structures did not recommend extending Redondo Beach in recognition of land use challenges that would have complicated the facility’s operations beyond 2023,” Water Board spokesman Edward Ortiz told Easy Reader. “For example, the property is no longer owned by its operator, and the owner was leasing the land after this period. Further, there are covenants from the previous sale that may have resulted in litigation if the Once-Through-Cooling policy compliance date were to be extended – and it would have also likely limited the operator’s ability to operate the facility beyond 2023.”
Ortiz explained further, saying that the circumstances would likely entangle contracting with the Department of Water Resources, which administers the (state’s Strategic Reserve).
“The other three facilities whose dates were extended did not face the same land-use challenges that Redondo Beach faced,” he said.
California “peaker” plants are kept on standby to address concerns of statewide grid reliability during periods of high-energy use, such as during a heat wave.
10-year plan
When the 10-year plan to shut down AES Redondo and the state’s other ocean-cooled plants was set in 2010, new water-cooled plants were banned, but closure of existing plants was not mandated.
“The OTC Policy does not require facilities to shut down,” Water board spokesman Ortiz said. “The policy (only) established technology-based standards (according to the Clean Water Act) and provided two compliance alternatives, or ‘tracks,’ to owners or operators.”
The first track is to cut ocean-water intake flow by at least 93 percent. The second track, if the first is not possible, is to reduce “impingement mortality” and entrapment of marine life comparable to track one.
“Owners or operators may choose their compliance track, and retirement is a business decision based on the owner’s or operator’s discretion,” Ortiz said.
The Redondo Beach city council has voted unanimously since 2012 to oppose the local plant’s continued use.
“It was easy to determine the plant wasn’t needed,” City Attorney Webb said. “The energy was needed down in south Orange County. You lose energy when it’s transported.”
Other factors were in play, too.

Hermosa Beach joined Redondo Beach in resistance against oil drilling and Redondo’s resistance to the AES power plant.
“There was ample power in the grid,” Jim Light said. “It was just mismanagement of the resources we had.”
One of Webb’s main arguments against the plant was that 22,000 people live within one square mile.
“More than the three other sites combined,” Webb would say, referring to Huntington Beach, Ormond and Los Alamitos.
AES declared its intention in 2017 to decommission the plant. In 2020, the company formally withdrew its application to build a new one.

The original salt lake on part of today’s AES site, early 1900s.
Powerlines
The future of the large powerlines leading out of the plant up 190th Street has not been determined.
“It’s premature to talk about removal (of the lines) without a formal request from AES,” said Dave Eisenhower, Southern California Edison spokesman.
Some of the lower powerlines are still operating, part of a system that brings power to Redondo Beach homes and businesses.
If and when the high lines come down, Edison is expected to pay for it, according to a feasibility study commissioned by the city in 2019.
“The study SCE provided to the city says zero cost to (us) for the removal of the large powerlines. From the plant to Beryl Street,” Mayor Brand said.
Beryl Street marks the city’s border with Torrance.
The land underneath the powerlines is owned by Edison, which brings more questions, to be answered in the future. ER