Morro Bay was chosen as the location for this iconic power plant prior to the beginning of construction in October 1953 given its proximity to ocean going fuel oil tankers and an unlimited source of cooling water for the power plant's turbine generators. The 140 acre site was formerly a U.S. Navy Base during World War II. Bechtel Corporation was chosen as the design and construction firm in charge of the $44 million dollar project, in today's dollars that equates to approximately $397,865,468. The initial project consisted only of a single powerhouse containing two 150,000 KW generators, a seawater intake building, a single 450 foot tall stack, fuel tanks, cooling water discharge piping, and a marine fuel line that extended some 4,400 feet into the ocean, the other units and stacks were added as the plant expanded to increase generating capacity. For each of the generating units there was one boiler furnace 139 feet high, or the equivalent of a 14 story building. The power plant employed the first seawater evaporators used for industrial production of fresh water in the United States. The plant was powered by fuel oil which was stored in four seven-million gallon tanks, and the plant consumed 500,000 gallons of fuel oil a day.
Juice 
ain’t no good without pulp.