Hydro not the sole generation source in the Northwest anymore
Mar 31 - Bulletin. Northwest Public Power Association
It used to be that the Northwest's power supply was pretty much single supply-oriented.
In the last 25 years, the electric utility industry has been forced to make
changes in the way it thinks about power mix and the end result is a much more
diverse power mix around the region.
Wind, solar, natural gas, hydro, landfill gas, nuclear and coal arc all part
of the mix these days, and the west coast is better off because of it. Different
generating groups have come online and while the power supply's collective belt
is still stretched to the last notch, at least the diversity is opening new
doors.
Throughout the region, from Alaska and Washington to Wyoming and California,
wind generators are sprouting up with more and more popularity, yet still aren't
huge slices of the power supply pie.
In Ashland, Ore. and in Eastern Washington there are solar projects that are
producing electricity that's being transmitted across the grid, and more and
mure, albuit slowly, fuul cells arc starting to emerge as generation sources
across the nation.
Clark Public Utilities (Vancouver, Wash.) is generating nearly half of its
own power supply with a natural gasfired turbine, and a couple of other natural
gas plants are online around the NWPPA service territory. Others are on the way.
When Klickitat PUD (uoldcndale, Wash.) opened the Roosevelt landfill gas
generating plant, a whole new option was added to the power mix: This one with
fuel for at least 50 years of electricity.
Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) has even installed three
fuel cells, which power their headquarters, a wastcwatcr plant, and a
distributed generation testing facility, located in downtown L.A.
Then, of course, there's always the good old workhorse of generation in the
region, the Federal hydropower system owned and operated mostly by the Corps of
Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation with output marketed by Bonneville Power
Administration (BPA).
Nuclear power is virtually non-existent in the Northwest, with the exception
of Energy Northwest's Columbia Generation Station in Richland, Wash. Twenty-five
years ago there were seven nuclear plants either operating or approved - but
delayed in construction - in the states of Washington and Oregon alone.
A look at the power mix in the west reveals diversity across the board.
Hydropower
The Federal hydropower system is made up of 30 projects that a good portion
of the West relies on.
Several PUDs in the state of Washington own and operate their own dams which
give them most of the power they need, and provides enough excess to sell on the
open market.
All-in-all, it makes up the largest hydropower hydroelectric system in the
world. But as the west continues to grow and reliance on hydropower puts more
and more stress on the system. Environmental and wildlife concerns also play a
part in the future of the system.
Thoughts of the dams being taken out all together are not realistic, but
reliance on the power generated on the river system not being enough to light
every household and business in the region served by the hydro system is very
real.
Natural Gas Provides an Efficient, Clean Option
Some public power utilities have gone this route, and it's been effective for
them.
Murray City Power (Murray, Utah) has a gas turbine generating station that
puts out 40 megawatts.
Clark Public Utilities (Vancouver, Wash.) has its own natural gas plant, the
River Road Plant. Completed in 1997, the plant provides nearly half of the power
the utility's customers use. The plant's "combined cycle" technology
helps it remain a very efficient generating source compared to the amount of
fuel it uses.
It's also clean. The plant qualifies under state law as a minor source of
emissions. Water used in the plant is recycled extensively, but must be replaced
on a continuous basis. Two wells at the plant site serve as the water source.
Water cycled through the plant is used to enhance nearby wetland areas and also
to water lawns and landscaping at the nearby Vancouver Lake and Frenchman's Bar
parks. Water not used for these purposes is discharged directly into the
Columbia River.
There are also several "merchant" plants owned by private
generation companies throughout the region.
Wind Power Establishing a Firm Footing
Energy Northwest is the one of the nation's public power leaders in wind
power. Located not too far from one of the biggest privately- owned wind farms
in the nation, Energy Northwest's Nine Canyon Wind Project is made up of 49
turbines, each producing up to 1.3 megawatts.
Nine Canyon can produce up to 63 megawatts at a price slightly higher than
the traditional resources, but at a price that's still competitive in the modern
day power market.
Another major wind project that's at least partly owned by the public power
world is the Foote Creek Wind Project in Wyoming. Eugene Water & Electric
Board owns 8.72 megawatts of the first phase of this project. BPA markets much
of the power from both phases of this project.
Kotzebue (Alaska) Electric Association opened the first utility wind farm in
the state nearly seven years ago, and tripled the size of the plant when it
installed seven new turbines: Proof that the cooperative's effort to put
together a wind energy industry that brings less expensive power and more jobs
to the rural parts of the state is working. The plant is made up of 10
66-kilowatt turbines that generate 1.2 megawatts of electricity.
Several privately owned wind projects dot the power supply map throughout the
West.
Landfill Plant Makes Good Use of Smelly Gas
Klickitat PUD (Goldendale, Wash.) has the H.W Hill Landfill Gas Power Plant,
located at the Roosevelt Landfill, the largest in the region and it generates
clean, renewable electricity by burning methane gas from the landfill.
Originally built with four Waukesha engines powered by the methane gas, the
plant was expanded by one engine a year later, boosting the plant's total output
to 10.5 megawatts.
What's nice about this plant is the future of the gas supply is excellent.
The regional landfill receives garbage from areas as far away as Alaska and
Northern California. The landfill itself is relatively new, and permitted for
120 million tons of trash, so the future of the methane gas is nearly infinite.
As that fuel supply grows, so could the PUD's plant. Someday, the utility says,
it could support up to 20 engines generating approximately 45 megawatts.
This type of plant is recogni/ed as a renewable resource because it helps
eliminate a greenhouse gas, methane, benefiting the environment. The gas itself
can be 20 times more destructive than carbon dioxide if it's allowed to escape
into the atmosphere.
Expense Leaves Fuel Cells Mostly out of Reach
While fuel cells are still very expensive they aren't used much in the West
just yet. However, LADWP is making a movement toward changing this. In addition
to the three the department is using for its own needs, LADWP has purchased two
five kilowatt residential units.
Solar Makes Life Sunny in Ashland & Richland
Two of the region's biggest solar projects are in the Pacific Northwest. The
City of Ashland (Ore.) has a solar project that produces enough electricity to
sell to nearly 300 customers, and BPA.
In 1998, the City of Ashland found out that 68 percent of its customers were
in favor of the utility developing solar power. The utility did just that,
building a system that converts sunlight to electricity right on site. Excess is
integrated into the grid. The project generates 30 kilowatts.
Energy Northwest also has a solar plant in Richland known as the White Bluffs
Solar Station, it's made up of 242 photovoltaic panels, which produce up to 38.7
kilowatts of direct current.
Columbia Generating Station a Lonely Nuke
There was a time when Columbia Generating Station wasn't the lone nuclear
plant in the Northwest. An investor owned utility's nuclear plant in Oregon once
stood tall in the region's power supply.
Nuclear power 2.S years ago was envisioned as the future of the region's
power supply. Today it's just a part of the mix, and Columbia Generating Station
is all there is.
The plant opened with its first electricity being generated in May 1984 and
it went into commercial operation nearly seven months later. The plant puts out
a net of 1,157 megawatts.
Nuclear power is very reliable because it's not at the mercy of Mother Nature
in the way hydro, wind and solar generation are. Columbia Generating Station is
able to generate 24-7, unless it's shut down for refueling, which happens every
two years.
While there are many kinds of power generation across the West, the diversity
in the power mix gives the West a vast range of options.
Nelson Holmberg is Associate Editor at NWPPA. he can be reached by telephone
at (360) 254-0109 or by e-mail nelson@nwlipa.org.
Copyright Northwest Public Power Association Mar 2004