CWEB.052/April.25.2000
As the electric industry restructures across the Northwest and the rest of the country, information services and customer relationships--prominently including conservation--will be vital elements for thriving utilities.
"The flow of information will become as important as the flow of electrons as utilities and their customers become increasingly interdependent, and generation moves toward renewable and distributed applications," predicted consultant John Graham. "Efficiency will continue to play a key role in optimizing T&D [transmission and distribution] system investments and end-use customers' operations. Successful utilities will continue to innovate such that they become and remain strategically important to their customers."
Graham knows about utilities and conservation from extensive personal experience.
In 1978 he began his career in the industry as a residential weatherization auditor for Pacific Power in Oregon. After
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| John Graham (Photo courtesy of CARES.) |
Transitions
Transitions have marked Graham's career as well as the course of Northwest conservation history. Here's how he sees the broad outlines of the demand-side past:
"Beginning as an alternative to expensive new generation, conservation caught fire as a combination of price increases, environmental awareness, and economic development drove Northwest policy-makers to develop least-cost planning and other tools which rewarded conservation," Graham observed. As demand cooled, so did funding, and the focus shifted to market transformation as a less-expensive approach," he continued.
"The focus on manufacturer/distributor/customer investment thresholds, which are inherent in the market transformation approach, has led to what I consider conservation's final phase: an intensive focus on the motivation and economics of the end-use customer as an investor, and of conservation's effect on the T&D system."
Electric industry restructuring will eventually arrive in all four Northwest states, Graham believes; Washington, he thinks, will have some form of open access and public-purposes funding by October 2001--when Bonneville Power Administration's new rate period begins. Restructuring both real and prospective "has removed the underpinnings of the old efficiency construct: vertically integrated utilities and BPA funding widely applied centrally designed programs under the orchestration of the [Northwest] Power Planning Council and regulators. Now, apart from BPA and [investor-owned utility] legacy programs, which are driven primarily by politics and not least-cost planning, most central programs are gone or greatly reduced, and activity is driven by end-use customer economics."
Without large amounts of money to offer customers for energy-efficient products and services, utilities and organizations like CARES have had to better understand customer needs and how efficiency can address productivity, environmental compliance, process improvement, product quality and other important business issues. "My sense is, we're moving away from conservation as an activity of patriotism or virtue and getting into, 'What does it cost me to make a widget and to make an investment in something that is more efficient?'"
In addition to the advent of restructuring and public-purposes funding, Graham believes, "Technology such as information systems will play an increasing role in controlling processes and other end-uses and optimizing T&D systems. As a result, utilities will become increasingly important as information providers to their end-use customers. "This utility-customer relationship will become "much more real-time" and "interactive," Graham thinks.
He also sees a compelling future under restructuring for municipalities and buyers' cooperatives, which can aggregate, bundle and manage "otherwise-fragmented loads." This applies to conservation, too: "I think there's some huge opportunities in aggregation for efficiency," Graham said, noting CARES as a prime example. However, he added, it does take substantial planning and organization to fully capture the benefits of joint energy-saving ventures.
CARES
CARES, too, has evolved considerably since its 1992 formation as a vehicle for member PUDs to develop low-cost, bond-financed conservation and renewable resources, and sell them to BPA. Eight years later, the collaborative has become more entrepreneurial.
"Like the rest of public power," said Graham, "CARES and its members are sorting out their role in conservation delivery" without BPA funding and amidst restructuring.
"The Energy Services Enterprise, in which members help larger commercial/industrial customers develop and implement performance-based efficiency projects, has worked well, exceeding its first-year goals," Graham said. ESE is working on a similar self-funding initiative for small commercial/residential customers, and on advanced information systems. Graham noted that Washington's Initiative 695--which slashed license tab fees and has led to local government budget cutbacks--has also affected CARES, causing two large cities to cancel energy-saving projects.
"After winding up the two major BPA contracts which supported it during its first seven years, CARES is now paying its own way with fees from customer projects," Graham said.
The consortium now finds itself "at a crossroads as it begins to self-support based on understanding and meeting its members' end-use customers' increasingly sophisticated demands for service. Whether it can leverage its members' excellent relationships with end-use customers into mutually beneficial strategic relationships will determine its long-term viability," he said.
Going Green
Graham also sees a greener tint coloring the region's buildings and energy supply.
"Green buildings and green power will take on increasing importance in the Northwest, with its long-established ethos of environmental stewardship and regional cooperation," he predicted. "I see the need to marry green programs with efficiency programs so that incremental price impacts can be mitigated, and so that green resources can better meet more-efficient end uses.
"As distribution utilities pay increasing attention to their T&D investments as a way of managing costs," he continued, "distributed generation, along with green and efficiency resources, will become increasingly important." Using energy conservation to reduce peak loads has not been widely practiced in the Northwest, but Graham sees "a compelling long-term interest in that kind of investment" by distribution utilities.--Mark Ohrenschall
As a practitioner and advocate of green building, architect Logan Cravens sees energy conservation as an important element in environmentally friendly construction. But he also acknowledges energy-saving measures are often a lower priority among building professionals and clients.
Cravens is the environmental coordinator for Portland-based Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership--an architecture/planning/interior design firm--and president of the non-profit Cascadia Region Green Building Council. He has experience with a variety of building
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| Logan Cravens (Photo courtesy of Logan Cravens.) |
Asked about his interest in energy conservation as an architect, Cravens told Con.WEB via e-mail, "Buildings are using increasingly greater shares of energy because of technical equipment and computers. This changes the dynamic of the mechanical systems and the opportunity to daylight and naturally ventilate. I am looking for low-tech responses to high-tech problems." One low-tech element in ZGF's work: Sharing daylight and exterior views with interior spaces at Doernbecher Hospital in Portland.
Concerning Energy
Energy conservation, he said, "affects all processes of the built environment, particularly the production and transportation of materials for buildings. Architects need to look at the opportunities to reduce the embodied energy in the materials they use," for example, by using local materials to minimize transportation distances. "Building form and siting are the biggest first choices that will influence energy use, therefore conservation. Each site brings with it unique problems," he said. Urban sites may restrict the orientation, due to street grids and zoning overlay requirements. Adjacent structures may not allow maximum insolation, according to Cravens. Brownfields tend to restrict the area and extent to which the building may disturb the site, while greenfields raise issues of watershed and habitat disruption as well as questions about transportation for the occupants.
Despite the significance of energy, Cravens reports, "Regionally, the clients are not that concerned about energy use if it means greater first cost," primarily because of cheap Northwest power. "A good project manager will be able to explain, through an integrated design approach, the benefit of spending money to save money. However, for residential building types, the market is in such a boom that energy savings are seen as much a marketing tool as the right way to build. As energy deregulates the low cost of energy in the Northwest, prices should rise, so this attitude should change across the board. We see that dynamic every time gas prices go up over a sustained period of time."
Building professionals are of different minds on green buildings, Cravens believes. "As the environment and the liveable communities issues rise on the political scene due to the presidential campaign, the building profession is both leading (early adopters of sustainable architecture) and following (those that see the profession as merely another business that responds to the current trends)." He finds "groundswells of [green building] interest and action throughout the country," such as Cascadia (Pacific Northwest and Pacific Southwest Canada), Pennsylvania, Austin, Texas, Washington D.C., the Carolinas, New Mexico, Colorado and Minnesota. "I would like to see green buildings as mainstream in 10 years."
Public institutions such as governments and utilities play a critical role, according to Cravens. "They are the major sources of incentives and funding for energy measures. They are extremely influential and should double or triple their programs. Public entities also have a great opportunity to educate large segments of the population."
Another influence can be found across the Atlantic Ocean, where, he said, "By necessity and government mandate, Europe has been advancing green building technologies to respond to hard environmental problems. The U.S. looks to them for the latest in 'hip' environmental design. Europe, however, looks at the U.S. and marvels at the initiative of the populace, the way communities can focus on an issue and reach a solution." A German municipal official told Cravens this level of cooperation is "unheard of" in that country. The Netherlands has realized this strategy and has shifted its national focus to populace-based programs.
Still, according to Cravens, green buildings are not the sole solution to environmental programs. They are one factor in the greater picture of communities seeking sustainable strategies for their future health.
Looking ahead, Cravens forecasts "great advances" in green building in the Northwest. This will come partly "from the pull of governments adopting standards, such as LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] or adding incentives." And he thinks some of the green building progress will derive from "the push of a more informed and ecologically 'smart' population that will begin to see the link between energy, the environment and the impact on their pocketbook and their quality of life."--Mark Ohrenschall
Energy efficiency is a much busier field today than expected five years ago, when discussions about electric utility restructuring first started to get serious and utilities concerned about bottom-line cost-recovery quietly started cutting back on conservation spending.
And while Northwest market transformation efforts have yielded some successes, market transformation alone won't be enough to maintain a viable energy efficiency industry and continued progress in energy conservation, according to Ken Eklund, senior conservation specialist with the Idaho Department of Water Resources Energy Division. Besides, he said, "We're still inventing market transformation."
Eklund should know. In his 11 years with the IDWR's Energy Division, he has been directly involved in the Manufactured Housing Acquisition Program (MAP), which in the early 1990s transformed the regional manufactured housing industry into a hot market for super-energy-efficient models. Through the MAP program, Eklund was instrumental in helping to get vinyl-framed, energy-efficient windows to dominate the regional windows market. He has also worked on energy code issues and builder training.
Before moving to Idaho in 1984 Eklund taught in the energy management program at Edmonds Community College in Edmonds, WA, and was among the early members of Ecotope--an energy conservation consulting group formed in 1975 and still active today.
Financial Incentives Have a Role
The energy conservation/efficiency movement made great progress from the late 1970s through the early 1990s, Eklund believes, when the focus was on utility conservation programs and both builder and buyer incentives. Much of that progress has since been institutionalized into energy codes and efficiency standards, he added, but the demise of utility programs and incentives has led to some backsliding in efficiency.
When
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| Ken Eklund (Photo courtesy of Ken Eklund.) |
Market Transformation
One of the unfortunate myths associated with market transformation, Eklund added, is that "you can exit a market and retain the transformation" achieved through marketing. "You can't stop advertising," he said, pointing out that companies with popular brand-name products, such as soft drinks, place a lot of importance on image advertising to retain their large market shares. "If market transformation is their tool, utilities need to market to their customers."
But at the same time, "If you run a market transformation program, you must have something to market," Eklund cautioned. He questioned the potential effect of the Efficient Building Practices Initiative, a Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance project aimed at advancing the design and construction of energy-efficient commercial buildings by promoting worker comfort and increased productivity. The program seems to be "trying to sell a Web site" and "convince people their buildings aren't comfortable," he said. A better option, Eklund believes, is to create a commercial building rating program and "market the heck out of that."
But, "Sometimes the market isn't what you think it is, and only experience can reveal this," Eklund noted. As an example he cited the Alliance's residential duct efficiency venture (now known as Performance Tested Comfort Systems) and its initial baseline study. The study showed that only 30 percent to 40 percent of targeted homes could be cost-effectively retrofitted, and a site visit was necessary to make that determination. These added costs made a ducts-only business service unfeasible.
But Ecotope, which conducted the baseline study, also found that HVAC contractors who visited homes for duct repair in Oregon always found other things to fix--often much more profitably than repairing ducts. The business plan showed that a combination of duct testing and tightening, safety testing, heat pump and furnace service, and weatherization would make the venture viable. Thus, Performance Tested Comfort Systems was born. This kind of creative market-testing and strategizing should be part of every market transformation venture, Eklund said.
History
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Eklund said, research and development, model energy codes and utility voluntary standards like the Super Good Cents and weatherization programs were at the center of site-built energy efficiency efforts. In the manufactured housing sector, research and development led to establishment of industrywide standards for energy efficiency--once again, Super Good Cents--and a boom in energy-efficient manufactured housing. That market influenced the windows market, so super-efficient vinyl windows have become the norm through the national ENERGY STAR windows program. And Idaho consumers can now get loans for their installation.
Today, according to Eklund, the focus is on continuing to implement the lessons learned during the reign of centralized utility programs. This includes energy code upgrades and developing voluntary standards for efficient construction, such as the GemStar home energy rating program for Idaho builders, as well as the Alliance's new market transformation program for manufactured homes. "We need a long term and permanent ability to be in the infrastructure and affect it," he said.
"Market transformation shouldn't be thought of as advertising alone," Eklund added. "You must include a broad palette . . . advertising, retailer training and support, targeted incentives and competitions like the Golden Carrot super-efficient refrigerator program. And we need the right mix of technological honesty combined with marketing."
In the long term, "There has to be some mechanism for funding research and development, public information and technical assistance," Eklund said. A 3-percent public purposes charge, as recommended by the Regional Review and adopted--with some variations--by Oregon and Montana, is one approach. But Eklund is concerned about state-by-state policies that could develop as a result, when a regional approach is what's needed.
"To start a new program without money is pretty difficult," he said. "Intelligent combination of incentives and marketing is a better way to go. We have to be smarter in the future. We do best when we take the best from the past, but have the creative freedom to change for the better."--Jude Noland
The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance board of directors has approved nearly $10 million of continued funding for five ongoing market transformation initiatives.
Most of the money--$5.8 million--is earmarked to promote energy-efficient residential lighting products. The remainder will be spread among existing ventures focused on manufactured housing, residential air-distribution systems, a new speed-control technology for motors, and local government association partnerships in the four Northwest states. These actions took place at the Alliance board's meeting in Portland April 12-13.
Project Funding Approvals
Compact fluorescent lamps were one of the very first energy-efficient products targeted for a market transformation initiative by the Alliance board, with funding approved in 1996. In the ensuing years, board member Jake Fey told his colleagues at the Portland meeting, a new generation of compact fluorescents has entered the market, ENERGY STAR has brought national brand recognition, prices have dropped, and relationships have been formed with Northwest retailers. Now is the time for a "bridge to potential future efforts" in residential lighting, with ENERGY STAR as the primary vehicle.
"It is an important market," Fey said. "It's got to be one of the most visible markets that we're involved in, in terms of the number of consumers that are exposed to this product. We have significant opportunities to work successfully with utilities to leverage resources to assist at the local retail level." Whilte the time may not be right for the Alliance to make a large investment in residential lighting, he said, "It's also not the time to walk away from the market."
Board member Carol Brown added, "We are now at the point of getting better quality products and ones that work better and last longer . . . When and if the market is actually ready we'll be prepared to significantly impact it or know whether it's going to move on its own." Although the Alliance hasn't found a "significant hook" to promote CFLs, she said, "Maintaining a visibility level is important for the Alliance."
This second phase of the ENERGY STAR Residential Lighting program will run from this July through December 2002. The $5.3 million budget unanimously approved by the Alliance board continues the move away from manufacturer incentives; most of the money--$3.75 million--is earmarked for retail-based consumer awareness and education. Other activities will include support for innovation and introduction of new energy-efficient fixtures; utility marketing; product quality verification; and a Web site that will allow retailers and consumers to order the latest technology in subcompact fluorescent lamps. An additional $500,000 maximum was approved to support CFLs in small markets through the next lighting season.
The Alliance also will continue to support another residential market transformation venture--manufactured housing. The board voted 13-1 to provide $1.3 million over three years for enhanced marketing of manufactured homes built to Super Good Cents standards. That figure represents about 25 percent of a total marketing budget of $5.5 million--the rest coming from other stakeholders.
"This is one of the best opportunities for major savings in the new residential market," said Alliance project coordinator John Jennings. Manufactured homes account for 45 percent of new electrically heated homes in the region, he noted, and up to 80 percent of all new homes sited in rural areas. "If we don't continue some level of marketing, there will be some decline" in Super Good Cents-level homes, which now account for about 40 percent of total regional production (including gas-heated manufactured homes). That's down from about 60 percent in early 1997, but up from around 30 percent in early 1999.
Alliance board member Jon Powell noted the historical decline in Super Good Cents manufactured homes ever since the demise of the Manufactured Housing Acquisition Program (MAP) in the mid-1990s. He worried that "this could be NEEA's foray into a continuing intervention that never ends; NEEA's Vietnam."
Tom Eckman, a Northwest Power Planning Council staffer who consults for the Alliance, said the Super Good Cents market share plummeted after MAP because large financial incentives that were the program's cornerstone diminished, and the Northwest manufactured home industry became controlled by out-of-region corporations focused on marketing lower-priced products. But these companies have, in the past five years, watched manufactured homes' total regional market share decline from 27 percent to 21 percent, "simply because they took Super Good Cents out of their portfolio," according to Eckman. Now these corporations see the profit in energy-efficient manufactured homes--distinctive products that sell quickly, according to Jennings.
A similar amount of money--$1.25 million--for a much different market also was endorsed 11-1 by the Alliance board. The second phase of the MagnaDrive venture will involve spreading the word on this new technology for variable-speed applications on motors, along with field and independent testing. With this venture the Alliance hopes to increase the total market for motor speed controls, and foster a new generation of variable frequency drives.
In another residential sector venture, the Alliance board on a 10-2 vote approved $700,000 for Performance Tested Comfort Systems. This venture promotes a range of energy efficiency services for residential heating/cooling/ventilation systems, plus weatherization, via trained and certified contractors. Alliance funding will "provide an initial marketing boost to increase customer demand and contractor participation," Jennnings told the board.
And by an 11-2 vote, the board also approved $879,000 over three years for local government associations in the four Northwest states to work with the Alliance in various activities around market transformation. This ongoing partnership benefits the Alliance, its contractors, and the local government associations and their members, said Alliance project coordinator Andy Ekman.
Other Business
In other action at its April 12-13 meeting in Portland, the Alliance board adopted a revised strategic plan. It includes a vision ("A culture in which the efficient use of energy is a core value among consumers and businesses"); a mission ("Catalyze the Northwest marketplace to embrace energy-efficient products and services"), and a rationale ("Energy savings resulting from this effort will lower the long-term cost and environmental impact of the region's electricity system, resulting in a healthier economy and cleaner environment. Additional benefits resulting from Alliance efforts, such as increased production or reduced waste, can also help Northwest businesses become more competitive").
The strategic plan also includes goals for "a strategically-prioritized portfolio of cost-effective market transformation projects," support of market research, information, education and partnerships with other market players, evaluations to document effects and improve future efforts, and to be "an effective and open organization" that keeps constituents informed of its activities.
The board also discussed potential changes to its structure and a new way to solicit market transformation proposals--both of which are still in process--and heard that executive director Margie Gardner will continue in her position through at least 2004.--Mark Ohrenschall
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The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has approved Idaho Power's continue participation in the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance for the next five years.
The IPUC's April 10 order also rejected a request by the Industrial Customers of Idaho Power to "self-direct" their Alliance-related rates for internal conservation. But the IPUC did change the utility's cost allocation method, effectively reducing by about one-third the industrials' financial contributions to the Alliance.
Idaho Power will pay its proportional Alliance share through 2004--about $1.24 million annually, $6.2 million total--with 1999 revenue-sharing funds. The investor-owned utility can recover its Alliance funding from this reserve as annual payments are made to the Alliance.
"This Commission has long been supportive of investments made by its regulated utilities in conservation programs so long as investments in those programs are prudently incurred," the IPUC summarized in its order. "Cost effective energy efficiency programs make sense from both a societal and an economic perspective . . . The Commission is convinced that continued participation in NEEA at this time for five (5) more years is in the public interest."
The IPUC noted findings by its Utilities Division staff that Alliance program savings cost an estimated 0.15 cents per kilowatt-hour (overall levelized basis). Alliance energy savings in Idaho are forecast at 4.2 average megawatts from 2000 to 2004, and 34 aMW over 10 years. "The Commission finds that investing in programs that create this magnitude of cost savings are prudent expenditures and further finds that this cost analysis compares favorably to the cost analysis of other more traditional DSM programs. The Commission finds that NEEA programs as a whole have been cost effective," said the IPUC ruling.
Industrial Self-Direction Rejection
In rejected ICIP's request to self-direct Alliance funding for internal conservation initiatives, the commission said that all Idaho Power customers benefit from Alliance projects, either directly as participants (through reduced power bills) or indirectly (by lower overall power supply costs from Idaho Power). A number of Idaho industrial customers are actively engaged in Alliance ventures, the IPUC noted, and, "The Commission cannot allow some customer classes to avoid paying their fair share for participation in NEEA. That would be discriminatory."
ICIP attorney Peter Richardson told Con.WEB his organization was "disappointed" in the commission's ruling on industrial self-direction. With the region and Idaho Power deficient in power supplies, he said, "The commission appears to be turning its back on what we have offered as immediate cost-effective conservation."
The IPUC order does change the way Idaho Power will allocate Alliance funding from its customer classes, shifting from an energy consumption to a revenue basis. Commissioners Dennis Hansen, Marsha Smith and Paul Kjellander said they are "sympathetic to the Industrial Customers' and FMC's concerns that these customers may not enjoy a degree of benefit commensurate with their cost contribution and that an allocation of the costs for participation based solely on energy consumption may disproportionately burden those customers." The revenue-based method "more fairly allocates the costs for energy market transformation and new conservation programs amongst the customer classes in proportion to the benefits obtained without incurring the costly administrative costs associated with the Industrial Customers' self-directed proposal," the commissioners wrote.
This methodology change reduces the industrial customers' direct Alliance funding from about $300,000 annually to about $200,000, according to IPUC staffer Randy Lobb. "We don't think that's a bad thing," said Richardson, although he noted the reduction does not by itself reduce industrial rates.
ICIP can petition for reconsideration of the PUC order, which Richardson on April 24 said was still a possibility.
In its March 9 formal response to Idaho Power's Dec. 30 PUC application for continued Alliance participation, the Idaho industrial group proposed the creation of an "Industrial Conservation Fund," consisting of money that Idaho Power's Schedule 19 and special-contract customers would have paid in rates to the Alliance. "This fund . . . will be separately accounted for and held by Idaho Power for the use of those customers for energy conservation projects." Each industrial customer could send its share of this fund to the Alliance, or it could opt for internal energy-saving projects initiated within five years at any Pacific Northwest facility. ICIP's proposal also included provisions for fund administration, project criteria, cost-effectiveness evaluation and reporting. "We thought we had presented a very reasonable alternative suggestion for industrial customer self-direction of their funds," Richardson said.
ICIP's request for self-direction stemmed from its dissatisfaction with the Alliance (see Con.WEB, Feb. 25, 2000). The group's PUC filing criticized market transformation as "vague" and "speculative and ill-defined." Today's ratepayers shouldn't have to fund potential future conservation--the prudency of which won't be known for many years, ICIP argued. The trade association also panned the Alliance board for its lack of customer representation: " . . . NEEA is not willing to be guided by its customers' needs or input." Micron Technology endorsed ICIP's comments, and FMC Corp. supported industrial self-direction.
The PUC's Consumer Division staff also had questions about Idaho Power's Alliance funding, calling for "a docket for the purpose of determining whether or not participation in NEEA is the most efficient and economic approach to energy conservation, and also to determine whether or not it is duplicative of other programs." Some 50 public comments from Idaho Power customers had expressed opposition to the Alliance in early 1997, the consumer division staff noted.
Alliance Support
But the PUC's Utilities Division staff supported the Alliance in its comments: "After three years of operation, NEEA has 21 projects in various stages of market transformation with a track record of evaluation and modification. Concerns previously expressed by Staff regarding potential conflicts of interest have lessened with its direct observation of how the NEEA Board operates and how NEEA staff develop and propose programs. Commission Staff, interested parties and the Commission have had an impact on the operation of NEEA over the three-year period. Participation by Idaho Power in NEEA operations has improved, as has the participation by end-use customers on the NEEA Board of Directors. NEEA has also, with the assistance of Idaho Power, improved the number of energy efficiency programs and participants within the state of Idaho."
IPUC Utilities Division staff also praised the Alliance's estimated cost-effectiveness for Idaho energy savings, describing it as "significantly less than the estimated cost of energy saved by prior Idaho Power efficiency programs in Idaho," and cheaper than "the current cost of new supply resources."
Also favoring Idaho Power's Alliance participation were the Northwest Energy Coalition, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Idaho Rural Council and Idaho Rivers United. The four groups' joint comments said energy efficiency provides economic and environmental benefits, and market transformation complements local energy-saving initiatives. "Over the past three years, NEEA has proven its effectiveness and the merits of regional collaboration," they said.--Mark Ohrenschall
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Snohomish County PUD's future energy resource portfolio will include 20 megawatts of renewable energy and 3.5 average MW of annual conservation.
These guidelines came from the PUD Board of Commissioners in early April, along with a larger directive for the utility to buy most of its future wholesale power from Bonneville Power Administration beginning next year. Snohomish's contract with BPA--which now provides the utility with about 40 percent of its supply--expires in 2001, and altogether 80 percent of the utility's current energy resources won't be available by the end of next year. The PUD had embarked on an extensive public process in selecting its new energy mix.
"Essentially all of our [power] supply that's new is going to come from Bonneville," Snohomish assistant general manager of power and business services Coe Hutchison told Con.WEB. That will equal about 80 to 90 percent of the PUD's total power needs, he noted.
"The Commission decided to pursue BPA power largely because the federal agency was the least expensive source in the near-term," the PUD said in an April 5 news release. "The terms of the power purchase from BPA are now left to staff to negotiate." Bonneville "appears to be the best product in town," PUD general manager Paul Elias said in the news release. Other options considered by the PUD included various scenarios of market purchases, BPA's Slice of the System, and a combined-cycle combustion turbine.
The commission is "leaning" toward a five-year contract for BPA power, according to Hutchison, and wants to ensure flexibility beyond 2006. "They don't want to be in a position where we've bought all of our power from Bonneville and really have no capabilities or options to go anywhere else," he said. "How that'll actually shape out in the contract is something real important to the board."
Renewables, Conservation Role
In addition to the BPA commitment, the PUD commissioners "directed staff to watch for attractive renewable resources or environmental improvement opportunities in the utility's power supply portfolio, as well as to pursue cost-effective conservation opportunities," the news release stated.
"Staff should look for opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of resources in the PUD's power supply portfolio," added commissioner Donald Berkey in the release. "The portfolio should be designed to allow additional low-impact resources to be added if appropriate opportunities arise." Commissioner Kathleen Vaughn said she and her colleagues "would like the PUD to continue its commitment to environmentally friendly resources." and noted that green power--primarily from wood-waste cogeneration and hydro projects--now accounts for almost 13 percent of Snohomish's power portfolio.
In examining future power supply options for the PUD, "The models that we ran all included a 20-megawatt green power purchase," said Hutchison. Of that, 5 MW already flows from Klickitat PUD's landfill-gas-to-energy project at the Roosevelt Regional Landfill. Another 10 MW comes from BPA green power under a contract expiring in 2001. That will leave 15 MW "wide open" for PUD green power beginning next year.
Renewing the BPA green power is "an option," Hutchison said. "We've got to see those prices, get that competition." A less likely alternative would be PUD development of its own renewable energy. "It becomes a little more complicated to build a resource outside our service territory," he said. "There are benefits to have it inside, but there are not a lot of renewable opportunities" in the PUD's western Washington area. The PUD could buy renewable power from outside the Northwest, although Hutchison said Snohomish would have "probably some favor toward in the region." The PUD will be looking for "the absolute lowest and best price we can find anywhere" for its renewables purchases, he said.
Snohomish plans to have its green power arrangements in place before October 2001. "First we have to sort out the Bonneville [wholesale] contract," Hutchison said. "That's the key piece with the shorter time frame."
On the conservation side, the resource blend chosen by the commissioners includes an average of 3.5 aMW of energy savings each year. "I stress that's an average," said Hutchison. "That's more than what we've been doing." Snohomish is "still in the process of ramping up" to spend 3 percent of its total revenues on renewables, conservation and low-income weatherization--a goal commissioners established in 1998 and which the PUD anticipates meeting in 2001.
Snohomish expects to spend about $6 million on those public purposes in 2000, equal to about 2 percent of electric revenues. About $2 million of that is earmarked for green power, and most of the rest for conservation programs. Hutchison expects those proportions to remain "roughly" the same as the utility's public-purposes spending rises to 3 percent.
Snohomish plans to continue offering conservation initiatives for homes, businesses and industries, Hutchison said, and also is considering direct funding of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.--Mark Ohrenschall
Energy conservation and renewable energy offer an affordable alternative to power generated from hydropower dams on the lower Snake River, according to a new study from the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Northwest Energy Coalition.
The "key finding" of the NRDC/NWEC study released in mid-April is that "conservation and renewables would be no more expensive--and in some cases, cheaper--than market strategies" in replacing power from the four lower Snake River dams, said Karen Garrison, director of NRDC's Northwest Salmon Project. Relying on Northwest Power Planning Council data and modeling techniques, the analysis examines the residential rate and BPA stranded-cost impacts, as well as changes in carbon emissions, associated with removing the dams and replacing their output.
Zero Carbon Strategy
The study concludes that, compared to a baseline where the dams remain in place, the groups' preferred "zero carbon strategy" for replacing Snake River hydropower with 1,091 average megawatts of conservation and renewables would raise residential rates by an average of $1 to $3 per 1,000 kilowatt-hours from 2002 to 2021--contingent upon variables such as market prices and how much power the individual customer's utility purchases from BPA. This compares to an average residential rate increase of $1 to $2 per 1,000 KWh if the dams are removed and power replacement is simply market-driven.
"Going with the Flow: Replacing Energy from Four Snake River Dams" has been in the works for at least two years. NWEC cited preliminary results in November 1998, when the group formally endorsed breaching the four lower Snake dams as long as conservation and renewables filled the resulting power gap. Since then, said Garrison, the analysis has been refined. "What took the longest was getting comfortable with its assumptions," she told Con.WEB.
The study compares the region's energy costs under nine different conditions. In the baseline scenario where the dams remain in place, BPA's 2002-2021 Net Present Value--the agency's projected revenues if it sold power at market rates, minus its estimated total costs--is calculated when market prices are high (levelized at $35.54/MWh in 1998 dollars), medium ($24.19/MWh) and low ($16.85/MWh). The NPV figures are then compared with the costs of removing the dams and replacing their power under both a market-driven replacement strategy and a strategy consisting solely of conservation and renewables acquisition. These costs are also figured across the three different market price conditions. To make these calculations, the study relied upon NWPPC's Stranded Cost Simulation model and the AURORA market-price forecasting model.
The baseline condition at the heart of the study was extracted from the Power Council's 1998 analysis of BPA's future potential costs and revenues. It incorporates more transportation, flow and spill relative to levels stipulated in the 1995 federal Biological Opinion--resulting in a decrease of 196 aMW in federal hydro generation. "We wanted a base case that improved conditions for in-river fish, but not the more extreme alternatives," said Garrison. "We were simply trying to say the status quo wasn't acceptable, and it turns out that our estimate is pretty close."
"The number they chose might actually be more conservative than the reality today," confirmed NWPPC power system analyst John Fazio. He said that increased and extended flows, as well as increased spill to aid steelhead under the 1998 Supplemental Biological Opinion, cut generation to levels close to those included in the study.
The analysis' estimate of BPA's baseline 20-year NPV ranges from stranded costs of $565 million in low market price conditions, to benefits of $17.5 billion if prices are high. The cost of each power replacement scenario is then subtracted from the agency's NPV to arrive at the 20-year cost of breaching and securing replacement power.
Premise
Both strategies begin with the premise that if the dams were breached the region would have to replace about 940 aMW of federal power per year, relative to the baseline. Based on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers analyses, the study puts the cost of breaching in both replacement scenarios at $700 million. Other common costs include $130 million in transmission upgrades that BPA says dam removal would necessitate.
According to the study, these expenses would be somewhat offset by about $420 million in savings--relative to the baseline--on costs that would have been necessary to bring the river into Clean Water Act compliance if the dams remain in place. Breaching, the study says, would also eliminate BPA operating, maintenance and capital costs associated with the dams.
The cost of the two replacement strategies do differ in other ways. According to the NWEC/NRDC analysis, the region's energy costs would vary dramatically under the market-based replacement scenario. Electric expenses--that is, the difference between BPA's baseline NPV and the cost of replacing generation via the market--would rise from $900 million when prices are low to $2.5 billion when market prices are high.
Using the AURORA model, the study also estimates that under the market-driven strategy, all new resources would be gas-fired. All told, about 87 percent of the replacement generation would come from natural gas and about 13 percent from coal. The net result would be a 0.7 percent increase in carbon emissions across Western Systems Coordinating Council territory.
This contrasts with the zero carbon replacement scenario, which would result in no net increase in emissions over the 20-year period. According to the study, a total of 1,091 aMW in annual conservation and renewable would have to be added to cover the additional emissions from market purchases made while the clean resources were being phased into service.
Under the NRDC/NWEC plan, this strategy would consist of 75 percent low-cost conservation (at $17/MWh) and 18 percent non-hydro renewables, comprised mostly of wind. Relative 20-year energy costs with this strategy would be highest if market prices are low--$1.5 billion above the non-breaching baseline. The zero emissions option would cost about $1.4 billion more relative to baseline in medium-priced market conditions, and $1.5 billion more when prices are high.
The study's authors say this puts the zero carbon strategy on equal footing with the market-driven response when prices are in the medium range, and indicates it would be even cheaper when market prices are high. "Even after incorporating the main cost of dam removal and clean energy replacement, BPA electricity rates are likely to be competitive with market rates," the study concludes. "Only if future energy costs are low is BPA likely to face stranded costs over a 20-year period, and in that case its rates would be noncompetitive with or without removing dams and replacing their energy."
Recommendations
Based on the results, the study recommends BPA expand its resource plan--currently under development to address projected power shortfalls--to include enough conservation and renewables acquisitions to replace the lower Snake River dams' output. The authors recommend BPA extend the plan to 2011. And to avoid potential cash flow problems, the study suggests the agency explore creating a reserve fund, borrowing in the market or instituting a long-term slice of the system mechanism .
"Incentive programs are great, and BPA is positioned to play an important leadership role," said NWEC policy director Nancy Hirsh. "BPA will be losing the power, and they will have the expense of replacing it. Clearly they have an obligation to pursue conservation and renewables."
Hirsh said flexibility is one of the virtues of the zero carbon strategy. "Conservation is a constantly evolving resource over time. The reservoir's big enough not only to support the supply shortage now, but to continue to provide benefits when we do dam removal."
Hirsh added that not only BPA, but states, individual utilities and entities such as the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance would all play a role in implementing the conservation and renewables strategy. "It's a package," she said. "And BPA may be the logical hub. They've played that role in the past and the region isn't psyched about going back," she conceded. "But it makes sense."
While the study deals extensively with the economics of replacing power from the lower Snake dams, Garrison and Hirsh acknowledged that various externalities--for example, emissions resulting from increased trucking if the dams were removed--were beyond its scope. Also, because the Council's data did not include information on fuel cells, the study failed to take up the replacement potential of distributed generation. Another topic not addressed is the region's looming capacity and reliability problems.
'Good Idea' to Study
Jeff King, senior power analyst for the NWPPC, said he has seen a number of versions of the report, "and I have relatively few problems with it at first cut." King said the Council "provided the data we had in hand" and the study relied on the NWPPC's own assumptions regarding the costs and performance of conservation and renewables.
"It was a good idea to do this study, and to have this idea out on the street," King added, "but it definitely needs some additional analysis before people run out there and start implementing the programs that they recommend."
King said that since the groups' study was begun, the AURORA price forecasting model has been improved. "It's better now than it was at that time. It's a twitchy sort of model, and you'd definitely want to do those runs over very carefully," he said of the study's market projections. He also pointed to the fact of the capacity problem, "which these programs might exacerbate, and which certainly bears more analysis."
King said that at the moment the Power Council has no plans to take up the subject of the study itself. "I'd say it would be unlikely that we do anything unless the issue of dam breaching became more concrete," he predicted. "Speaking for myself, I think that to some, looking at a replacement power policy would be an implicit acknowledgment that we're moving ahead on breaching."--Angela Becker-Dippmann
An early April conference in Seattle cast a spotlight on clean energy plans and oppportunities for the Northwest and beyond.
Seattle Mayor Paul Schell, Washington Gov. Gary Locke and Bonneville Power Administation top official Steve Hickok each spoke on conservation and renewables at the Seattle Summit on Protecting the World's Climate. Participants in the April 3-5 conference also came up with an ambitious clean energy action plan for the Northwest and British Columbia, focusing on energy efficiency, renewable resources, transportation, environmental consequences, economic development, greenhouse gases and education.
Discussion also included perspectives on clean energy in the marketplace, and the potential for renewables and efficiency to synergize with high-tech and communications advances.
The event was put together by the Washington D.C.-based Climate Institute and Climate Solutions of Olympia, WA, with a number of Northwest sponsors.
Clean Energy Declarations
"This conference is about global warming," said Schell in remarks that opened the conference. "We do believe global climate change is a formidable problem, and we need to affirm it is a problem and solve it."
Environmental stewardship is "deeply in the core of the Seattle spirit," Schell said, citing examples in habitat preservation, energy conservation, green building and transportation. He called Seattle City Light "at least as climate-friendly as any major urban utility in the nation," but pledged, "We can and will do better. As power demand grows, we will continue to meet the need with no new net increase in greenhouse emissions."
City Light will "increase its strong commitment to conservation" and "invest in new renewable power sources" to meet electric load growth, Schell said. And if those aren't sufficient, he added, the city will mitigate greenhouse gas emissions "associated with any fossil fuels we use." He called this "a big commitment, but a problem of this magnitude requires a big solution."
Locke, speaking the following day, said, "It's time for political leaders to see global warming for what it is: a global warning, and one heck of a challenge both environmentally and economically."
Locke focused on business opportunities for the clean energy industry, noting that some companies predict clean sources will provide half the world's energy within 50 years. "One-third of the world is still off-grid and will need energy. We're looking at a potential market of trillions of dollars. And right here in Washington state we have a seed bed we can grow into an industry to feed that need." The governor specifically mentioned Siemens Solar Industries, Trace Engineering, Applied Power and Avista as examples. "Now it's time for us to nurture the clean energy industry just as we nurtured the high-tech one," Locke said, noting the move from centralized to distributed energy systems mirrors the shift away from mainframe to network computer applications.
Locke listed five specific ways for Washington to promote clean energy. A sales tax exemption should be granted to small-scale renewables, as it is now for large-scale renewables. Second, he has asked director Martha Choe of the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development to "aggressively promote markets for our clean energy products, both here and abroad." He also recently signed legislation requiring utilities to disclose their power sources to customers, raising consumer awareness on energy use. Locke also noted Washington's renewed commitment to the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (see Con.WEB, March 28, 2000). And fifth, because "we need to make sure Washington has the skilled work force to support the clean energy industry," he wants to double engineering graduates from the state's colleges and universities by 2010. Locke also noted building commissioning and performance contracting initiatives in state buildings.
"We're on the threshold of an energy use revolution," Locke said. "If we're smart . . . we'll stay a step ahead of the market and provide the clean energy decade with the tools it needs."
BPA chief operating officer Hickok outlined Bonneville's vision of the emerging "energy web," with distributed generation technologies and digital communications fostering a "new interconnectedness" in the electric system. "This is not something BPA can compel or drive . . . and it's imprecise," Hickok said. "We are going to be actively facilitating it . . . We think it's the best thing for the consumer." Hickok cited BPA initiatives in fiber optics--fitting with the "communications-intensive" nature of the energy web--market transformation via the Alliance, the planned conservation/renewables wholesale rate discount, funding of solar monitoring sites and plans to incorporate power from the Solar Ashland project, as well as potential purchases of additional wind and geothermal energy.
Market Musings
The private sector, too, has a significant role to play in clean energy according to some conference speakers. "I believe very deeply that it is ultimately the power of the market that is going to deliver the next energy revolution," said Christopher Flavin of Worldwatch Institute. "I believe that effective government structuring of the new policy environment and efforts to break down existing market barriers are critical in shaping those initial market opportunities." Government policies fostered Germany's thriving wind-energy industry, he said by way of example--and government policies also killed off the same industry in Great Britain.
Flavin outlined what he believes are the four "next great things in the energy sector." One is the "conversion of dispersed forms of renewable energy into dense, easily usable forms of energy." He called wind power the "leading edge" of this trend. Another is the "micropower revolution" enabling the likes of fuel cells, microturbines and photovoltaics as small-scale and economic energy options. A third trend is the "replacement of the internal combustion engine" with the likes of hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles, and the fourth is the "evolution of the hydrogen economy" with a "lot of very exciting work" happening in hydrogen technology, storage and transmission.
However, he cautioned, "I feel fairly confident in saying many, many elements of where we are heading are unpredictable and will take us by surprise."
Chairman Sam Wyly of green power marketer GreenMountain.com sounded a clarion call for electric industry deregulation and compliance with current clean air laws by older coal-fired power plants.
Washington state residents, he noted, can't buy green power from his company. "Some clean energy company will be the SISCO of the future . . . The key to having a clean energy revolution is to replicate the success of the computer and telecomm revolutions. Governments do have a hugely important role" in setting standards and maintaining fair laws. Wyly lambasted coal-burning power plants exempted from federal clean air regulations as a "form of corporate welfare . . . Grandfathered coal plants account for nearly all major pollutants, but for 30 years they have not had to meet any clean air laws."
GreenMountain.com's vision is " a world powered by the sun and the wind and the moon," and its mission is "to change the way power is made and used." Wyly noted that "100,000 former electric slaves in California and Pennsylvania" have already chosen to buy power from his company. "Free markets work," he concluded. "They are the ultimate solution to air pollution."
From a venture capitalist perspective, Tom Alberg of Seattle-based Madrona Investment Group spoke of the Internet and telecommunications and their "potential positive benefits for the developing world and thus the environment and thus the climate," on the theory that solving economic problems also solves environmental problems.
Asked about clean energy investments around the world, he said, "It's not here yet [but] I think we'll start to see it."
Action Plan
The conference's final day brought presentation and discussion of a clean energy action plan for the Northwest and British Columbia. It calls for meeting half of the region's new demand for heat, light and power with energy efficiency--up from about 10 percent today, according to Peter West of Renewable Northwest Project. "Anything less does not get us onto a track of addressing [carbon dioxide emissions] in any kind of constructive way," he said. Specific means to achieve that goal include "high performance building standards, performance contracting, and building commissioning"; a system benefits charge levied on all electric and natural gas customers to support efficiency measures; and financial inducements such as property tax incentives, income tax credits and mortgage rate discounts.
For renewables, the draft goal is to "build a base of new renewable energy resources sufficient to support a self-sustaining market." Specifics include 1,000 megawatts of new renewable resources in the region by 2010; minimum renewables supply standards and system benefits charges for new renewables; streamlined siting and grid interconnection standards; supportive policies and pricing for transmission and distributed renewable energy technologies; green power opportunities for customers and green building programs; property and sales tax relief, and income tax credits on investments.
Other planks of the draft action plan: reduce oil consumed in transportation; incorporate environmental costs and consequences into energy decisions; promote economic development and trade initiatives to grow the clean energy industry; reduce or offset greenhouse gas emissions in conjuction with reducing other pollutants; and teach sustainable development and clean energy practices and principles in all levels of education, formal and community-based.
Rhys Roth of Climate Solutions told attendees the Northwest has an opportunity with clean energy to generate wealth, create jobs, address global warming and other environmental issues, revolutionize the energy system and improve the quality of life for people in the region and around the globe. "Just go ahead and do it," he concluded.--Mark Ohrenschall
More Information:
Pacific Power customers in Oregon and Washington can now buy green power to support new wind-energy development.
The utility's Blue Sky program allows Pacific Power residential, commercial and industrial customers to buy renewable energy in 100 kilowatt-hour blocks at an additional cost of $4.75 per month. Most of the proceeds will fund construction of new wind-energy facilities in the western United States to match Blue Sky purchase amounts.
Oregon and Washington regulators approved the program in mid-April; Utah and Wyoming regulators also have endorsed Blue Sky for their states, according to PacifiCorp's Leslie Carlson.
This retail green power program fulfills a promise made in the 1999 merger between Pacific Power's parent company, PacifiCorp, and ScottishPower. It also means that both major Oregon investor-owned utilities (Portland General Electric is the other) and its largest publicly owned utility, Eugene Water & Electric Board, all offer some form of green power to retail customers.
"As a company, we are committed to reducing the impact of our business on the environment aand to providing environmental leadership," said PacifiCorp chief executive officer Alan Richardson in a news release. "Blue Sky is part of that leadership" and is "the right thing to do." The utility also plans to build 50 megawatts of new renewables over the coming five years, separate from Blue Sky.
Blue Sky
PacifiCorp has a keen interest in expanding its renewable resource portfolio, Carlson said in explaining the Blue Sky approach.
"The decision to use a block program was based, in part, on research showing that customers are accepting of such energy products and, in part, on the administrative simplicity of such a program," according to a Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission staff memo.
Pacific's new green power program is available to all customers in Oregon, Washington, Utah and Wyoming. The $4.75 charge per block, which will appear as a separate item on monthly bills, reflects the utility's estimated cost of producing 100 KWh of wind energy, Carlson said, along with some funds for marketing and consumer education. In Washington, according to the WUTC staff memo, 68 percent of Blue Sky costs are projected for new renewable power while 23 percent is allocated for marketing and communications and the remainder for administration. Advertising is starting in selected markets, including the Portland and Salt Lake City areas, according to Carlson.
"The more Blue Sky [customers] buy, the more renewable energy resources are built and the greater the benefit for the environment," according to a PacifiCorp fact sheet. "While investing in Blue Sky doesn't mean that the power coming into individual homes and businesses will necessarily be generated from renewable resources like wind, it does mean that we can increase the amount of energy in the grid generated from renewable resources. That lessens our dependence on more conventional sources of generation and means less pollution." Most of PacifiCorp's generation capacity is coal-fired.
Pacific Power estimates Blue Sky participation rates among its nearly 500,000 Oregon customers at slightly more than 0.7 percent in 2000 and 1.2 percent in 2001, according to a report from OPUC staffer Lynn Kittilson.
PacifiCorp has promised to seek an end to Blue Sky should the program prove incompatible with Oregon's electric industry restructuring legislation, Kittilson's report noted. Her recommendation concludes that the retail green power offering "will provide useful information about the nature and requirements for offering customers choices (such as the portfolio option) in the future under Senate Bill 1149"--Oregon's 1999 restructuring bill.
In Washington, however, regulatory staffers were skeptical of Blue Sky. WUTC staffers Graciela Etchart, Doug Kilpatrick and Thomas Schooley recommended to commissioners that the proposal be suspended. "Staff is concerned with [Pacific's] pay-now deliver-later proposal," they wrote. "We feel such an approach has the potential to harm the long-term viability of renewable resource markets . . . Staff will support plans which deliver renewable generation when and as the customers demand it." Etchart told Con.WEB, "We thought it was kind of a discrimination in favor of new renewables versus current renewables."
WUTC staff also criticized the per-block cost of Blue Sky, describing it as "at the high end of this range" of other green-pricing programs. " . . . such a high price per block may lead to reduced market penetration rates. This is especially true in Washington where the counties served by [Pacific] include some of the lowest per capita incomes in the state." Nevertheless, the WUTC voted 2-0 to approve the program, with commissioner Bill Gillis abstaining.
New Wind
"Actual delivery of the new renewable resource power to the western United States power grid will start once the new wind turbine project is complete," PacifiCorp said. "We commit that the new turbines will be generating power within two years of your purchase of Blue Sky shares."
PacifiCorp said it is "currently in discussions with wind power developers on a number of sites in the western United States," and it expects to decide on location by this fall, with energy production starting by the end of 2001. The utility already is majority owner of the Wyoming Wind Energy Project, which Carlson described as "one of a number of sites we're looking at" for new wind-energy development.--Mark Ohrenschall
More Information:
Bonneville Power Administration has recently announced its involvement in two solar energy initiatives.
BPA will provide nearly $900,000 over five years to the Regional Solar Radiation Data Center, administrator Judi Johansen announced in an April 4 news release. University of Oregon operates the center, which collects long-term solar radiation data from 13 Northwest sites.
This funding "demonstrates BPA's commitment to the development of renewable resources" under the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act, Johansen said. BPA money "will give a big boost to the program and help us achieve many of our goals," said Frank Vignola, director of the center. "It will enable us to add new monitoring sites and produce software and Internet tools to facilitate use of the data."
Eugene Water & Electric Board, Portland General Electric and the Northwest Power Planning Council also will continue providing funds to the solar data-collection program. "As solar energy becomes more economical, the demand for high-quality data will increase," said the BPA press release. "Because data collection requires a long-term effort and has future benefits, it is difficult for an individual utility to justify the expense."
In mid-March, BPA announced its participation in the Northwest Solar Alliance, along with the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Seattle Regional Office. This group will collectively promote solar energy applications
A BPA news release called this new alliance "a cooperative effort to make the Northwest a major player in a national initiative to include solar as a vital part of a sustainable energy future."
BPA said the NSA "aims to reduce global warming and other environmental threats through the promotion of solar electricity in the Pacific Northwest. It does this in part by supporting the national Million Solar Roofs Initiative, a federal program to promote the addition of one million solar units nationwide. The alliance also will support Pacific Northwest solar electric manufacturers, installers and consultants . . . The group is looking to increase in size and impact as it recruits other supporting members."
Solar energy is one component of BPA's planned energy conservation/renewable energy wholesale rate discount. "BPA hopes through its work with the alliance to connect its customers with solar opportunities," the agency said.
The four Northwest states will collectively receive about $7 million in grants from the federal Weatherization Assistance Program, U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson announced in March.
"Weatherization efforts reduce annual energy costs by an average of $193 per home. And for every dollar that the Energy Department invests, our partners at the state and local levels are managing to leverage an additional $3.40 from other sources," Richardson said in a DOE news release. "Our program also helps low-income communities cope with heating oil shortages and sharp fluctuations in price."
The WAP grant awards--the timing of which will coincide with state fiscal years--include $2.69 million for Washington, $1.67 million for Oregon, $1.5 million for Montana and $1.17 million for Idaho. State grants nationwide will total $132.7 million.
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