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Jul 19 , 2010
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The Spokane River through downtown Spokane. |
One year into our new FERC license on the river, big projects happening
Watch for activity on the downtown Spokane stretch of the Spokane River beginning this week, as Avista starts work on several projects to protect and enhance fish, wildlife, water quality, recreation, cultural and aesthetic resources related to our Spokane River hydroelectric project.
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Click to view a map of the activities happening on
the Spokane River. | Over the next few months, visitors to the stretch of the river between Upper Falls and Monroe Street Dams will see equipment and temporary work structures in and around the river, including a crane near the river above Monroe Street Dam, intermittent aesthetic flows at Upper Falls Dam, sandbags, water bladders and moving equipment in the Upper Falls area. All of the equipment will be handled and operated with an emphasis on public safety and protecting the surrounding environment.
Work taking place includes a pilot study in the north channel of the river to learn what modifications can be made in order to return the river to a more natural state, and removal of accumulated rock, gravel and sediment at Monroe Street Dam. The work will begin in July and August as flows drop to their summer levels, and could be extended into early autumn.
While fishery work may not be as visible as other activities, it’s just as important. While we’re studying the river channel, biologists and contractors will be working in the stretch of the river between Upper Falls Reservoir and Monroe Street Dam, primarily on a study to assess whether fish can become trapped or stranded in the north channel of the river when water levels are low.
In late June, 3,000 catchable, sterile rainbow trout were planted in Upper Falls Reservoir. Another 3,000 fish will be planted in Upper Falls Reservoir this fall. The first year of a three-year fish population assessment will also be conducted in the Upper Falls Reservoir this fall.
Watch for updates as we progress, and see the attached map and handout for specific details, locations and approximate dates/timelines.
A year into the 50-year Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license to operate our five hydroelectric dams on the Spokane River (Post Falls, Upper Falls, Monroe Street, Nine Mile Falls and Long Lake), the work Avista will do is just getting started. These significant environmental measures will benefit both the communities and the natural resources where our facilities are located. Protecting resources and responsibly operating our dams helps us continue to generate low-cost, renewable hydroelectric energy. Jun 17 , 2010
This summer and fall, Avista will replace the wooden flashboards at Nine Mile Hydroelectric Development with operable spillgates. The upgraded system will allow Avista to pre-program desired heights and give operators the ability to raise and lower the height of the spillway at any time, incrementally if needed, so that we can maintain the reservoir pool at a more constant level throughout the entire year.
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Click above to enlarge graphic. |
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Click above to enlarge graphic. | What will the new spillway consist of?
The new spillway will consist of metal gates supported by air-filled rubber bladders. Compressors will inflate the bladders to approximately 25 psi to raise the gates. When stream flows are high enough, the bladders will deflate to lower the gates so water can flow over the top. The new, automated technology will be much more flexible and precise when managing the reservoir elevation.
What is the construction plan and timeline?
While the timeline is subject to change, the construction period is anticipated to be from July through October 2010. The new spillgates have been ordered and we expect delivery in July.
Once the new spillgates are delivered, we will remove some concrete from the top of the existing dam and replace it with new concrete to provide a good foundation to erect the new gates. A trough will be excavated in the dam crest for the compressed air lines that will be used to inflate the bladders.
The reservoir level must be lowered during construction to erect the new spillgates. During this period, the pool level will be 2 to 4 feet below the spillway crest, which may bring the level lower than what it has been in the past when the flashboards were erected each year in mid-summer. Construction should be complete and the reservoir level back to full pool by November of 2010.
How will the new spillway change Nine Mile operations?
No change in the full pool level is planned after the new spillway is installed. To the extent possible, we will maintain the reservoir level at the normal full pool elevation year around.
In the past the reservoir had to be lowered each summer to accommodate installation of the flashboards. When the flashboards were pulled in early winter or spring of each year, the material was lost and had to be replaced. Additionally, erecting the wooden flashboards each year is a labor intensive operation. The new spillway will result in less regular maintenance for Avista and enable the generation of additional power.
For project information, contact Steve Schultz, Project Manager, Senior Engineer. May 26 , 2010
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Ginny Welch gets a good look at her new Toyota Prius. |
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The trunk of the Prius was stuffed with CFL goodness. | Efficiency matters and every little bit adds up. Even when you drive a fuel efficient car. And now, one lucky woman owns a brand new Toyota Prius - and a case of CFL bulbs - to help her be more energy efficient both at home and on the road.
Beginning April 1, KREM 2’s Project Green and Toyota joined Avista in promoting the benefits and awareness of energy efficiency, energy assistance and rebates offered to homeowners. The grand prize in the seven-week promotion was the Prius, courtesy of Northwest Toyota Dealers. The May 25 grand prize event was hosted by KREM 2 weathercaster Tom Sherry and Avista Low Income Program Manager Christine McCabe.
Finalists were drawn each week from the over 65,000 entries to the contest. They ranged in age from 19 to 57 and came from communities throughout eastern Washington and northern Idaho. They are Flavia Ford, Post Falls; Rhianna Thomas, Springdale, Wash.; Robert Holven, Chester, Wash; Eleanor Anderson, Post Falls; Alicia Knowles, Spokane; and Christie Higley, Coeur d’Alene.
And the winner is Ginny Welch from Airway Heights, Wash.
May 17 , 2010
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Kettle Falls Generating Station. |
Sunday the Spokesman-Review ran a good article about biomass plants and the difficulty finding low-cost fuel. It featured Avista’s Kettle Falls Generating Station. Check out, "Biomass challenge," by Becky Kramer.
Two years ago I was involved in the 25th anniversary of the Kettle Falls plant and was able to learn a great deal about the wood-waste burning facility. I’ve got an affinity for it because it’s pretty unique in our power supply mix. While we’re obviously well-versed in hydropower and natural gas-fired generation and such – we’ve only got one biomass plant and it’s cool.
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This video was made during the dedication
of Kettle Falls in 1983. Watch now. | Wood waste – called “hog fuel” – is fed into a seven-story furnace/boiler and burned, creating heat. The walls of the furnace/boiler consist of pipes filled with water that are heated by the burning hog fuel. The optimal burning temperature is 2,000 degrees, resulting in a steam temperature of 950 degrees. The heated water generates stream and pressure that drives a turbine, which turns a generator, creating electricity. The maximum output of the wood-waste only operation is 53 megawatts of electricity.
Avista – or Washington Water Power at the time – created a short video in October 1983 during the dedication of the first-of-its-kind, renewable energy plant. The video is called “From Wood Waste to Power.” Due to its age, some statements and facts in the video are dated, but the general idea is still relevant.
It’s interesting to think that at the time, the plant was so groundbreaking and it’s still a gem today.
Apr 27 , 2010
On Earth Day Avista unveiled three electric vehicle charging stations around Spokane. These stations are part of Avista’s commitment to providing customers what they need in regards to electricity use - even in electric cars.
The stations are located at Spokane’s City Hall, Steam Plant Square and Avista’s headquarters on Mission Avenue. Avista will monitor their usage and upgrade them accordingly as technology and needs progress.
Please watch this two minute video for an quick overview of the unveiling events on Earth Day and listen to comments provided by Spokane Mayor Mary Verner and Dave Holmes, Avista’s Manager of Applied Research.
Mar 24 , 2010
The cost of energy itself (generating or purchasing) makes up about 60 percent of the cost customers pay each month. So, when those costs go up, it makes a significant impact on rates. To help work through this topic we created the video, “ Power Supply: What’s Driving Rates.”
The details
Avista generates about 93 percent of the power customers use with our own hydro, biomass, natural gas and coal generation resources. The additional power our customers need comes from resources owned by other Northwest producers via some long-term, low-cost contracts.
The demand for electricity continues to increase, so when those long-term contracts expire, as they have and will continue to do so over the next several years, we have to replace that low-cost electricity with reliable, but more expensive power.
Today, the commodity portion of a customer’s bill is about 4 and one half cents a kilowatt-hour for electricity. But, as those long-term contracts expire, the replacement power will cost between 7 and 11 cents, depending on the resource.
Mar 01 , 2010
If you happened to read the Spokesman-Review this morning, you might have seen a great article about Avista’s Sun Car and electric vehicle work along with the smiling mug of my co-worker and occasional blogger Hugh Imhof. You can check out the article here.
I’ve written about the Sun Car a few times, but it was nice to see the broad reach of the S-R to spread the word too. Here’s the deal – the car (actually two cars) are hybrid electric Toyota Priuses that have been modified to plug-in to electricity and hold a charge. The modifications roughly double car’s miles per gallon to around 90 MPG (not too shabby).
Employees of Avista have been driving the cars around our service territory in Idaho and Washington since last summer. As part of the project we installed solar panels on our company headquarters to help power the cars too. You can see a live feed of the power generated by the solar panels here.
On a personal note, I think this technology is pretty cool. Driving around in one of these cars is a different experience – it’s really quiet – but it’s also just the beginning of the electric vehicle revolution. As the price of gasoline goes up, more of us think about cutting back our driving or carpooling more. But what if you could plug in your car every night and get the juice to power your travels right from your utility? It seems like a convenient option.
Yet, from a utility perspective, it’s somewhat of a tricky prospect. These new cars will collectively take a great deal of power. While I don’t think everyone can afford to rush out and buy a brand new plug-in hybrid electric vehicle today, there will come a time when these cars become a viable (and affordable) option. Testing the cars as Avista is today ensures that we will be ready if and when our customers need us to meet their car-charging needs.
Feb 17 , 2010
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The Reardan Wind project (site
shown above) is on hold for a few
years. | Post by Hugh Imhof
So it looks like it will be a few more years before Avista builds a new wind farm. We’ve had plans to eventually build a wind project at Reardan, but now we are pushing the timeframe back.
The decision to reschedule the project, along with any other new renewables, wasn’t an easy one to make. Avista thought that all the current stimulus and tax incentives and lower turbine prices might make this a good time to build a project, but the numbers didn’t quite pencil out. The problem is that we don’t actually need the renewables right now, and it doesn’t make sense to add all the cost (these things are very expensive) until it’s closer to the time when we do need them.
Avista is already one of the greenest utilities in the country. We get more than 60 percent of our energy from clean hydropower and other renewable resources. Our carbon footprint is among the ten smallest of all the generating utilities in the U.S.
Avista has a plan for new resources called an IRP ( integrated resource plan) that is updated every two years and looks at future resource needs. The current plan identifies that we will not need additional renewable energy until 2016. That’s because Washington has a law called an RPS (renewable portfolio standards) that requires utilities to get a certain percentage of their power from qualifying renewables such as wind or solar. Unfortunately our existing hydropower and wood waste project doesn’t count, according to the RPS. We’ve been upgrading our hydroelectric generators, which does count and helps us meet some of the RPS requirement. We’ve been buying renewable energy credits that also count toward the goals. But by 2016 we’ll need to add more qualifying renewable resource.
Until then we’ll keep evaluating potential new resources and make our decision based on the most cost effective ways to meet RPS goals while still serving our customers reliably.
Dec 09 , 2009
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Mousetrap cars on display. |
When you think of alternatively-powered cars you might think of solar, natural gas, or even hybrid-electric, but I bet mousetraps don’t come to mind. Unless you’re from Kettle Falls, Wash., where they’ve got the mousetrap car down to a science. A science project that is.
Shane Heideman, who teaches science at Kettle Falls Middle School, designed a semester-long project to help students learn the basics of energy and get them thinking about how alternative resources can help decrease greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels.
When Avista was approached by the school to take part in the project, we welcomed the opportunity to partner with the community and help support science education.
Approximately 120 7th and 8th graders, working in teams of 3-4, were given the assignment to develop, construct and market an alternatively-powered car. The only requirements were that the car be built using a mousetrap as the propellant, and that it be able to move three meters under its own power. Teams also had to develop a tri-fold marketing brochure and be ready to race their cars at the end of the project.
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A mousetrap car shoots across the
gym floor. An Avista employee
records the time. | We helped provide information for the students’ research, speaking to them about our resource mix and how we make our renewable energy. We also showed them our Sun Car.
Student teams put in several weeks of working on the cars and brochures, and their hard work culminated in a race and brochure contest in late November. Avista joined in the fun by providing a guest judging panel and prizes to the teams with the best entries. The teams with the fastest cars in three rounds won cash prizes to split among team members.
The students were excited about their awards and proud of their hard work, and we had a great time helping out on the big day.
Oct 06 , 2009
I found out yesterday that I won an employee “eco-basket” for taking Avista’s carbon calculator on our website. They randomly drew five names of employees who found out what their family carbon footprint is by using the calculator. The eco-basket contains some cool eco-friendly stuff printed on recycled paper, Buck-a-Block T-Shirt (which was a medium, so that goes to my wife) and some snacks. Cool stuff.
There are many carbon calculators available online, but this one automatically pulls in your household energy usage, so you don’t have to do the math. It’s also calibrated for Avista’s unique energy mix. Avista is one of the greenest utilities in the nation, so it makes sense to have the specifics for our generation in your calculation. Other calculators are good, but use general information since all utilities and lifestyles differ.
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