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All Calpine power plants run on natural gas, with the exception of geothermal power plants in geysers in northern California.
All Calpine power plants run on natural gas, with the exception of geothermal power plants in geysers in northern California.
Photo: Calpine
All Calpine power plants run on natural gas, with the exception of geothermal power plants in geysers in northern California.
All Calpine power plants run on natural gas, with the exception of geothermal power plants in geysers in northern California.
Photo: Calpine
A violent Kincade fire in northern California damaged some of Calpine's The Geysers power plant offline.
Houston-based Calpine operates the world's largest geothermal power plant in Sonoma and Lake County, California. The fire occurred near 45 square miles of the complex where only more than 12 geothermal plants produce electricity from naturally occurring steam underground.
Calpin doesn't think its facilities cause fire, and many third parties operate power lines in the area.
This week's Kinkade fire was still not included, as California continued to deteriorate with a series of wildfires.
PG & E, a California-based power company, said Thursday that just before the fire broke out, one of the transmission towers failed in the area.
The geyser complex was previously damaged by a 2015 Valley fire.
Related: What is a geyser, a geothermal plant close to the origin of the Kincade Fire?
Calpin said the damage was relatively minor and further threats passed. However, some plant operations are temporarily suspended.
Calpine said, "This is consistent with the fire prevention protocol because the local power line system is powered off before the fire starts, depending on the fire situation."