Northwest power managers struggle with electricity surplus

[depakid]

The Northwest is awash in electric power this spring. Rivers are swollen. Columbia River dams are running full bore. Wind farm blades are spinning.

That should be good news for the Northwest, where hydropower is cheap and wind a leader in renewable energy. It also should be good news for California, a huge electricity consumer that often sucks up Oregon's springtime surplus.

But a doubling of wind-power supplies and an unusually concentrated surge in water levels have challenged this season's power operations like never before.

"You throw a spiky late runoff into the equation, and a little extra wind, and it definitely gets interesting," said Kieran Connolly, a power manager for Bonneville Power Administration.

The result: wasted power generation, excessive spill through the dams and a sometimes frenzied juggling of dam and transmission schedules.

High water levels benefit power supplies and migrating fish, but the levels in recent weeks have been too much of a good thing.

Oregon and Washington can't use all the electricity that's available. And southbound transmission lines that are at capacity can't take the extra power California consumers otherwise would eagerly devour.



In some cases, power producers are paying customers to take electricity off their hands.

Operators of the Columbia-Snake River dams say there's enough give-and-take in the system to handle large fluctuations in water flow and wind generation. But pressures have steadily increased, and they'll intensify as more and more wind power comes into play.

"I wouldn't say it's totally under control," Connolly said, "but we're keeping up at this point."

The limits snapped into focus a month ago, when warm weather finally arrived and mountain snow melts poured into Northwest rivers.

River levels rise every spring, usually beginning in March or April and lasting until late June. This year, cool weather persisted until a mid-May heat wave.

"Then everything started running," said Rick Pendergrass, BPA's manager of power and operations planning.

Only in the past week did the dousing begin to ease. Overall, the region expects a close-to-normal water year.

More: http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/06/northwest_power_managers_strug.html

[jpak]

1. Too much renewable juice????

It cannot happen

I have read it right here on DU

series

:evilgrin:

[NNadir]

4. Well, in short attention span theater, we'll ignore the words "this spring.":

I note that in the next drought and doldrums, they'll be burning dangerous fossil fuels like crazy and you won't give a rat's ass.

This is like the announcement that Spain produced 40% of its electricity for twenty minutes through wind and thus, "we're all saved."

Care for a round of 22.4 < 4.3?

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/sept04or.xls

[Kolesar]

2. 60 Minutes Sunday made a case for removing the 4 dams on the Snake to save Salmon

The four dams were finished in the 1970s in that last frenzy of publicly financed dam construction. Between the dams on the Columbia River and the dams on the Snake River, the probability of salmon surviving migration is almost nil.

[Bigmack]

3. And yet....

Customers oppose Puget Sound Energy sale, rate increase
OLYMPIA, Wash. —
State regulators held the last of three public hearings on proposals to sell Puget Sound Energy to foreign investors and raise rates.

At the Wednesday night hearing in Olympia, 51 people told the Utilities and Transportation Commission that the sale and rate increase are a bad deal for customers.

The Bellevue-based utility is seeking a 12 percent increase in electrical rates and 6 percent for natural gas.

Puget Sound Energy has ask the commission to approve the $7.4 billion sale to Canadian and Australian investors by September. The commission will make a final decision in November on the rates.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004459721_apwapugetsoundenergy1stldwritethru.html

[Phred42]

5. Build Bigger Damns

for the short term.

Long term - find alternates

[amandabeech]

6. We really need to get on the stick in improving long-distance transmission lines.

It's ridiculous for California to be pulling valuable natural gas- and dirty coal-fired electricity when there's a surplus of renewable juice to the north.

In a bow to NNadir, I think that renewables will not be enough everywhere and that we will end up with more nukes replacing coal and some natural gas.

However, I would like to exploit renewables to the fullest extent possible, and I believe that better long-distance transmission lines and improvements in electrical energy storage are key to that goal.

Then there's conservation, which I think we can all agree on.