Portland General Electric Obtains Hydro Capacity
Posted on August 20, 2020 by Will Gehrke
Tags, Energy
Portland General Electric (PGE) has signed a contract to acquire the surplus output from the Wells hydro facility from 2020 to 2025. In testimony filed earlier this month, CUB found that this is a reasonable action for PGE’s customers. CUB recommends that the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) approve PGE recovering its costs under the contract.
Located on the Columbia River about 13 miles northeast of Chelan, WA, the Wells Hydroelectric Project consists of ten hydroelectric generating units, rated at 840 megawatts. On an annual basis, this facility provides enough energy to power 670,000 homes in the Northwest. Douglas County Public Utility District (PUD) is the primary owner of the Wells Project, with Pacific Power, Avista, PGE, Puget Sound Energy, the Confederate Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation, and the Okanagan PUD receiving power from the facility. PGE’s customers have been receiving power from the Wells hydroelectric complex since 1967.
As part of this new contract, PGE will be responsible for managing Douglas County PUD’s and Okanagan PUD’s load. The energy that is surplus to Douglas County PUD’s and Okanagan PUD’s load will be available for use by PGE to meet its customers’ needs. The deal is favorable to PGE’s customers because it makes more generating resources available to them. On the flipside, the deal is favorable to the PUDs’ customers because they will be able to leverage PGE’s advanced trading desk and resource management staff.
CUB is supportive of the transaction, because it’s a prudent and reasonable action to meet PGE’s customers’ electricity needs. Without this new contract, PGE would likely have to build a new generating plant to meet customer demand. In the past decade, incentivized by low fuel costs, electric utilities have installed natural gas turbines as capacity resources. As loads fluctuate, natural gas generating units can be ramped up and ramped down to meet load. However, in light of rising concerns about emissions, carbon regulation, and customer preferences, PGE has opted to not install new natural gas generating units since 2016. This transaction provides PGE and its customers with “clean” capacity at an affordable price.
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08/20/20 | 0 Comments | Portland General Electric Obtains Hydro Capacity