CARLSBAD — Plans for a new power plant, on the coastal property of the existing Encina Power Station, are moving forward despite attempts from the city to have the plant moved further inland.

On June 15, NRG West, the owners of the proposed power plant, erected several green balloons above the property for one week as a way to outline the height of the proposed facility and its two smokestacks.

Construction of two new power-generating units, part of the newly proposed Carlsbad Energy Center to be built on the northeast corner of the Encina Power Station on Carlsbad Boulevard, are set to begin later this year with completion set for 2010.

Plans are to recess the new facility in the ground. The units were previously proposed to have 100-foot stacks and end up 70 feet above grade. However, the most recent plans have revealed an increase in height that would cause the new stacks to sit much higher above the ground.

The higher smokestacks are designed to better disperse the emissions.

According to Tim Hemig, project manager for NRG West, the new plant will use advanced state-of-the-art technology, which will result in 30 percent fewer emissions than the current power plant.

However, the air-cooled generating units would still need water to run.

Hemig said the new plant will not use ocean water like the existing plant, but it will still need some “fresh” water.

Officials are still debating where this will come from.

Current plans call for the water to come from the city’s reclaimed water facility, however, the city’s facility may not be able to meet the need, city officials have said.

Hemig said there are expansion plans for the city’s reclaimed water facility, and he hoped NRG West would be first in line. However, Hemig also said other alternatives are also being explored to meet the need for water.

Poseidon Resources, a desalination plant that will convert ocean water into potable or drinking water, has been given conditional approval to be built on the property of the power plant.

Peter MacLaggan, vice president of Poseidon Resources, said the plant would be open to being “good neighbors,” and to the possibility of working to supply that need in the future.

The desal plant, which the city has supported, also hopes to be up and running by 2010.