Wind project sparks power dialogue
Public utilities must keep up as industry nears new power era, insiders say
Rachel Cavanaugh
News Editor
At a dedication ceremony to inaugurate a $360 million wind project outside Goldendale last week, energy officials called on public utilities to keep pace with the private sector as it develops renewable power.
The majority of clean energy projects to sweep Klickitat County in recent years, they said, have been developed by private entities.
“I can’t help but be concerned about public power,” Randy Knowles, Klickitat County PUD commissioner, told the audience at the White Creek Wind project. “While I applaud those in private [sectors] for their efforts, I wonder in public power: ‘Are we doing enough?’”
After the ceremony, the commissioner added that in the immediate Gorge vicinity, wind sites are disappearing fast and may soon be gone.
“There are a finite amount of resources and frankly, few of the public [utilities] are stepping up and taking their share of it,” he said.
The commissioner represents one of four public entities from Washington involved with the White Creek Wind project, a 205-megawatt plant 21 miles east of Goldendale.
Klickitat County, along with the Cowlitz PUD, Lakeview Light & Power and Tanner Electric Cooperative developed the site, which is now the biggest U.S. wind project initiated by public power.
The plant sits on 9500 acres and can serve 38,000 residences. It has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with the foursome and 26 percent of the output will be earmarked for Klickitat County.
Yet Knowles said even with 60 percent of Washington’s power public, the sphere remains “timid.” Ned Piper, Cowlitz PUD commissioner, agreed:
“[There is] the concern that public power is not going to be aggressive enough in getting on board,” said Piper.
Part of the reason there is pressure now to seek alternative energy sources is a 2006 ballot initiative that demanded a phase-in of renewable power over the next 13 years.
The initiative — I-937 — requires Washington utilities to be three percent non-hydro energy by 2012. Following that, a shift to nine percent must be complete by 2016 and 15 percent by 2020, with huge non-compliance penalties.
Moreover, after years of dialogue, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) will begin allocating fixed amounts of power in 2011. That means any demand for power that grows after 2011 must be generated by the utilities themselves.
With these shifts taking place, power companies must learn not only how to distribute the power, as they’ve done in the past, but also how to generate and manage energy.
Despite changes, the picture appears good for the consumer. Both commissioners said rate increases were unlikely and many think wind plants are good for the community.
Bjorn Hedges, White Creek Plant Manager, pointed to the positive affect the added tax revenue will have on the county. His plant alone, he said, will generate more than $800,000 in tax revenue annually.
The plant also employs 18 full-time workers and more during high season.
Although some argue the turbines can be eyesores, Hedges further noted they prevent farmland acreage from being sold off to real estate developers.
During the dedication ceremony Friday, Knowles likened wind efforts to early pioneers who harnessed the Columbia River.
With the White Creek project specifically, he made an analogy to air traffic controllers who are trying to get a plane off the ground and at some point are “committed to fly.”
Bottom line, he said, is the road ahead is full of opportunity, but people must have the wisdom to recognize it.
“There is a path,” said Knowles. “All we need is the will to follow it.”
Forest crews warn of big fire season ahead
Fire officials warned property owners this week that Klickitat County is primed for a big fire season.
“It’s shaping up to be active,” said Wyatt Leighton, Goldendale Fire Management Forester for Washington’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “The risk is going to be high. It depends if we get starts or not.”
“The long-term forecast sounds hotter and drier than normal — that’s what the meteorologists are predicting,” said Dan Lennon, DNR’s Goldendale Fire Management Coordinator.
With last year slow, the officials said, it is more likely to burn. Furthermore, conditions are set to be windy, “as always.”
“This year we had a pretty harsh winter so there’s ample water in the ground,” said Lennon. “The problem with that is in the springtime, the fuel— the grass, grows all that much farther because there is water.”
According to Lennon, major fires are typical every seven to 15 years. The last big fire in Klickitat County was in 1998.
Friday, the emergency managers helped with a workshop at Goldendale’s Ponderosa Park to show people how to make their properties safer.
In a big fire, they said, homes must have at least a 30-foot safe-zone around them where trees are thinned and debris removed. The range is even wider for properties on slopes.
Wood piles must be removed from porches or decks, flammable liquids stored away from the home, and dead limbs kept from hanging over rooftops.
Leighton said one of the bigger problems in Klickitat County is absentee landowners. Because they do not live on site, they often do not maintain the property as they should.
He said Ponderosa Park is in the process of creating a fire plan that would address that issue, among others.
In the meantime, fire assessors are available throughout the county to visit homeowners and show them where work is needed. The assessments are a free service provided by the county.
“If a big fire gets going, the more they can do to make their property defensible, the better it will be,” Lennon said. “We can not only save structures, but we can save some lives.”
Exhaustion a factor in death of WS business owner
A White Salmon business owner died last week on the Columbia River after becoming stranded on a sandbar while windsurfing.
The victim, who lived in The Dalles, was identified by the Sherman County Sheriff’s Office as Mark Estes, 51, owner of White Salmon’s Re-Volvo auto repair.
According to a press release from Sherman County Sheriff Brad Lohrey, the office received a call for assistance last Wednesday at 2:31 p.m., with a report of a man exhausted and stranded on a sandbar just east of Rufus during a period of intense wind activity.
Friends who were accompanying the man, including medical personnel, called for assistance, which activated the Sherman County Sheriff’s Office Marine Rescue vessel.
“Under extremely hazardous conditions, with winds from 50 to 60 miles per hour, and unsafe water conditions, Deputy Cliff Jett and OSP Trooper Travis Ring, without regard to personal safety, launched the vessel and responded to the scene,” said Sheriff Lohrey.
As the rescue boat struggled to reach the victim, friends of the victim called to say the man had quit breathing and they had started CPR. He was unable to be revived, and had died by the time the boat was able to reach the sandbar. |
