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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.
Feb 08 , 2010
You’ll get no argument from me. The utility business and energy is pretty complicated. Not everyone understands it completely, and that’s part of the reason Avista created this blog – to keep us all ‘in the know’.
Well, the folks at ESource have created a funny and interesting video, “to learn what everyday people think about the smart grid, utility bills, and how they can save energy.”
They approached people on the street and asked them some of the common things that utility folks talk about every day. I suspect that if you’re being honest, you’d have answered some of these questions the same way.
Sep 23 , 2009
Avista’s focus on biomass centers on its Kettle Falls, Wash., wood waste burning plant. The term “biomass energy” refers to the organic matter in trees, agricultural crops and other living plant material burned to create energy. Avista’s focus has centered on wood waste of various types.
In Kettle Falls, wood waste, which we call “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 plant can generate about 53 megawatts from biomass alone – 61 megawatts combined with a natural gas-fired turbine at the plant. This is enough electricity to power 46,000 homes.
Earlier this month we announced that Avista is testing a biofuel (biodiesel) in some its trucks in an effort to green its fleet. This fuel is made from oil crushed from Washington-grown canola seeds and is not the same stuff burned in our power plant in Kettle Falls.
The Kettle Falls Generating Station is an intricate plant with many interesting machines and processes. For a closer look at what the plant looks like, please view this online slideshow with captions included. Aug 31 , 2009
Today Avista filed its Electric Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) in Washington and Idaho. The IRP tells the states how we plan to generate or obtain needed electricity for customers for the next 20 years. We file an updated plan every two years.
As you might expect, the plan is highlighted by wind. We’re looking at up to 150 megawatts of wind by the end of 2012 to take advantage of renewable energy tax incentives, diversify Avista’s resource mix and meet renewable portfolio standards. An example of a renewable standard is Washington’s I-937, an initiative passed by Washington voters in November 2006 that requires utilities to have 15 percent of their load served by new renewable energy by 2020.
We’re also planning aggressive energy efficiency measures to reduce generation requirements by 26 percent or 339 megawatts. (One megawatt is enough electricity to power roughly 750 homes.) See our Utility 101 post on megawatts.
We’ll continue upgrades on our transmission system and hydroelectric projects to get the most out of those resources.
“We continue to obtain new resources in a responsible and environmentally sound manner so that we can provide clean, reliable and cost effective energy for our customers,” said Avista Utilities President Dennis Vermillion, in today’s news release. Read the release here.
Finding that perfect mix of resources that meets our regulatory obligations (such as I-937) and increasing customer demand, while also keeping prices as fair as possible is at the heart of our planning. I know a lot of work goes into building this plan, but I wouldn’t expect anything less. Meeting increasing customer demand for electricity is not a simple prospect.
If you have any questions about our planning, drop us a line in the comment section and we’ll find the answer for you.
Aug 31 , 2009
We use a lot of fancy utility terms in our communications – and yes, even here on the blog. We can’t help it. It just comes out. So today, I’m doing the first Utility 101 post. In these posts I’ll try to explain some of the terms we use all time that you probably aren’t too familiar with.
We live this stuff and often expect you to know everything about it too. Not really fair, right?. If I get stuck in utility jargon mode – please call me on it. If it doesn’t make sense, then I should do a better job explaining it.
Here’s an example: what is a megawatt? When we talk about the generation of electricity at one of our dams, natural gas-fired plants, our biomass plant and even a wind farm, we often refer to the output in megawatts or MW. A megawatt is a measurement of electricity – roughly enough to power 750 homes. Of course, this varies by usage in each home, but it’s a good general number.
To make a comparison, Avista’s hydroelectric dam at Monroe Street has a generation capacity of 15 MW, while our Noxon Rapids hydro dam in Montana is much, much larger at 548.4 MW.
A megawatt is one million watts. A kilowatt is 1,000 watts. Customer rates are charged by the kilowatt hour or kWh. A kWh is equal to using 1,000 watts for an hour.
So now when we say we are looking to add 150 megawatts of wind by the end of 2012 – you know what we’re talking about.
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