PenLight: $50 million for wind

Cooperative utility to generate joint power with farm near Goldendale

George Le Masurier

of the Gateway

With a $50 million investment in an eastern Washington wind farm, Peninsula Light Company is changing the course of the 83-year-old power cooperative.

The PenLight board of directors voted last week to join three other public utilities in developing the 80-megawatt Harvest Wind Project, located in Klickitat County.

The agreement means PenLight will become a power generator, not just a re-seller of electricity.

“This is the first time in our 83-year history that we’ll be in the power-production business,” said Jafar Taghavi, CEO of the company. “This is a defining moment for us to set the course in meeting our future power mandates.”

PenLight is paying one-quarter of the $200 million price tag to get the wind farm up and running by 2010. Joining the company are Cowlitz County PUD, Eugene Water &Electric Board and Lakeview Power and Light.

Harvest Wind, located near Goldendale, is one of just two public power projects in the state. Private investors are funding all of the other numerous wind farms popping up east of the Cascade mountains.

PenLight Marketing Director Jonathan White said the company was taking the initiative now because there are so few projects available to public utilities that want to generate their own power.

“The longer we waited, the less chance we would have found an opportunity,” he said.

White said the company is committed to current power rates through October 2009.

PenLight is racing against two deadlines that will have dramatic effects on the local company that serves more than 25,000 customers.

The Bonneville Power Authority, from which PenLight has purchased most of its power, has said it will not provide the company with any more power than its average annual energy load as of Sept. 30, 2010. After that date, PenLight must find alternate sources of power for any increased requirement, or pay the BPA significantly higher rates.

PenLight must also meet the requirements of Initiative 937, passed in 2006, that requires utilities with more than 25,000 consumers to have 3 percent of its power portfolio consist of renewable energy sources by 2012 and 15 percent by 2020.

Taghavi said the Harvest Wind investment would guarantee PenLight 20 years of renewable power, but that would only meet about half of the company’s I-937 requirement.

Although PenLight purchases 86 percent of its total energy as hydro power from BPA, it doesn’t meet the definition as a renewable energy source under I-937.

The company will use the power generated from Harvest Wind to both meet future load growth and the I-937 requirement, according to PenLight Board President Spence Nordfors.

“Being able to meet future load growth and I-937 requirements is going to be challenging,” Nordfors said. “Becoming a partner in Harvest Wind allows PenLight an opportunity to meet our future state and federal obligations, and we’re using renewable energy, too.”

The consortium of public utilities developing Harvest Wind choose Klickitat County because it has designed 70 percent of the county as a renewable energy area. That means it has already processed most of the permitting and other paperwork on wind farms, saving investors time and money.

It will take two years to complete the project. The timeline depends on several factors, the most important of which is the availability of wind turbines; manufacturers are having difficulty meeting the current demand.

Reach Publisher George Le Masurier at 253-853-9248 or by e-mail at publisher@gateline.com.