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May 11 , 2012 video
Spokane River and Clark Fork River work targets fish survival, habitat and doing the right thing
If you’ve ever dipped a fishing rod into any of our local lakes or rivers you’re already aware of the great natural resources we enjoy in the Northwest. Because Avista operates hydroelectric facilities on the Clark Fork and Spokane rivers, we’ve made a commitment to the environment as part of our daily operations throughout Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
Two great examples of Avista’s commitment to environmental stewardship are reducing invasive lake trout in Lake Pend Oreille and studying rainbow trout spawning on the Spokane River. These projects were featured in a 2010 “Safekeeping” segment of the Columbia Country television program which aired on Fox stations.
Clark Fork River
The Clark Fork Project segment features an ongoing collaborative project on Lake Pend Oreille to reduce the population of invasive lake trout. Lake Pend Oreille was once a world-class fishery for rainbow trout, bull trout and kokanee. In recent years, the lake has been taken over by lake trout (also called mackinaw), which do not coexist well with native bull trout, and which prey on kokanee, depleting the food sources for rainbow and bull trout. This project offers angler incentives and brings in commercial netters to “fish out” the invasive lake trout. Since this program’s inception more than 139,000 lake trout have been removed from the lake.
Avista helps fund the Lake Pend Oreille project through our Clark Fork Project license, which includes Noxon Rapids Dam in Montana and Cabinet Gorge Dam in northern Idaho.
Spokane River
The Spokane segment features a rainbow trout spawning study on the Spokane River, part of our 50-year operating license for the five hydroelectric developments that make up Avista’s Spokane River Project. The spawning study is part of a 10-year collaboration with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to better understand the relationship between river flow and the rainbow trout population and their spawning habitat from Monroe Street Dam downstream to Nine Mile Dam.
In each of the last two years, in partnership with WDFW, we’ve captured and tagged more than 800 rainbow trout in the river below the Monroe Street Dam downstream to the Nine Mile Reservoir. This part of the 10-year study is to understand how many trout are in the Spokane River and the habitat they use. We will capture and tag rainbow trout again this October.
A similar project has been in effect for several years in the Upper Spokane River, and we hope this project will help us better understand how managing river flows affects water levels in Lake Coeur d’Alene and habitat for rainbow trout downstream. By doing so, we hope to ultimately encourage growth of the rainbow trout population in the Spokane River.
Both of these projects show how Avista works with others to care for the natural resources affected by our projects. They are great examples of how we make our commitment to environment part of our daily operations throughout Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
Apr 13 , 2012
noxon video
Four-year, $45 million upgrade nearing completion at Avista’s largest hydroelectric dam
In February Avista’s Noxon Rapids hydroelectric project, which generates clean, renewable energy reached a big milestone when the last of four original turbines to be replaced was installed. The four-unit, $45 million project started in July 2008 and is on schedule to be finished by spring 2012.
The upgraded units are expected to increase the total generating capacity of the dam by an estimated 30 megawatts. The upgrades enhance Avista’s ability to serve our customers because it lets us generate more power using the same amount of water – enough energy, in fact, to power more than 4,800 homes, or a town nearly the same size as Rathdrum, Idaho. Another benefit: this additional energy qualifies under Washington State’s Energy Independence Act (RCW 19.285) to meet Avista’s Washington state-mandated renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requirements.
Avista continues to generate or purchase about half of our energy with hydroelectric power. Investing in our hydroelectric dams makes good sense – some of them are more than 100 years old – and it’s a continual process.
You can sense a pride of ownership from the crew featured in the above video. Many of these employees, who worked to remove and replace the old turbine, have been working on hydroelectric generation projects for many years. When the Noxon Rapids work is complete, these employees will move onto other projects, but their legacy will live on in the additional energy they helped produce.
Mar 27 , 2012
video
An inside look at how Avista gathers information about snowpack
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Avista owns and operates eight hydroelectric
dams on the Clark Fork and Spokane rivers.
These facilities, together with long term hydro
contracts, make up about half of the total
electric resources available to serve our
customers. | Skiers may prefer light and fluffy snow, but heavy and wet snow contributes more to our water supply in the Northwest. Avista counts on water to generate hydropower for our customers. Every year, Avista evaluates snowpack information in the mountains to get an idea of what spring runoff may be like at our dams on the Spokane and Clark Fork rivers. Only a select few get to see this evaluation process up close, so we took a video camera up the mountain to get you a special look at snowpack measurement.
Avista rents snowmobiles so employees can get as close to the snowpack measurement site as possible. Snow depth is measured by pushing an aluminum tube down through the snowpack and all the way down to ground surface. Both the depth and weight of the snow is recorded. An average of all samples taken is calculated and used to represent the snowpack measurement site.
Avista measures 10 sites at Roland Summit in the Lolo National Forest, which is located near the Hiawatha Trail. Once the data is collected, the Hydro Engineering team submits the data to the National Resources Conservation Service who is largely responsible for providing Avista and many other interested parties with reliable water supply forecasts.
The more gradual the snowmelt, the more Avista can maximize that water running through its dams. However, you never know what Mother-Nature is going to do. Regardless, our customers can count on Avista to make the most out of this precious resource in an efficient, reliable and environmentally-responsible way.
If you have questions about lake and river levels, please visit our website. Feb 24 , 2012
outage video
Avista crews battle the wind to restore power to North Spokane neighborhood on February 22, 2012. A tree branch came into contact with a power line, damaging the equipment. Crews made a temporary fix and routed power around the damaged insulator, then moved on to the next outage. When winds calm, we'll come back and fix the insulator permanently.
Our crews do this work for you, regardless of weather conditions. A neighboring homeowner even brought out a plate of treats for the crew - very nice of her.
The video is set to the tune of "Dust in the Wind," sad song, but fitting for such a windy, dusty day! Feb 22 , 2012
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elb video |
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North Idaho Christian student Brian Pfau is the 2011 Grand Prize winner for his “One Green World” video. North Idaho Christian School, in Hayden, Idaho, will receive a $2,500 technology grant from Avista. |
Students create short videos to show how every little bit adds up for energy savings
Back in December, Avista announced an opportunity for young and aspiring directors and actors to put their creative juices to work and make a short video about energy efficiency through the Every Little Bit Video Contest. After many submissions and tough decisions, several talented and lucky high school students were selected as the third annual Every Little Bit Video winners.
North Idaho Christian student Brian Pfau is the 2011 Grand Prize winner for his “One Green World” video (see video above). North Idaho Christian School, in Hayden, Idaho, will receive a $2,500 technology grant from Avista.
Zane Bickham, Patrick Old and Aneesh Pappu of Pullman High School in Pullman, Wash., are the 2011 Viewer’s Choice Award winners for their film, “ Dreaming Of A Cleaner World.” Their school will receive a $1,500 technology grant from Avista. Runner-up and honorable mention award winners are from East Valley High School in Spokane Valley, Wash., and Pullman High School. View the top six videos at everylittlebit.com. Nearly 50 videos were submitted for judging. Students promoted their videos and viewers were able to vote for their favorites online at everylittlebit.com.
A big “congratulations” to all the winners and a tip of the cap to all the submissions. All the videos demonstrated an undeniable truth – everyone wins with energy efficiency.
Jan 18 , 2012
An Avista electric crew spent a few hours today replacing a utility pole at our Beacon Substation in East Spokane. The original pole caught fire this morning, the exact cause was undetermined. The crew dug through roughly a foot of frost and frozen dirt around the pole before it could be removed. The new pole was placed in the same location as the original. The power lines were temporarily affixed to a nearby pole before being installed permanently on the new pole.
At 11 a.m., temperatures where hovering around 25 degrees with blowing snow at the job site. According to crew members the cold isn’t an issue, they are used to that. The trouble with snow is when they set down a piece of equipment to prep it for installation - the snow buries it in just minutes.
Preparing for an outage
Avista crews are prepared to work in any weather condition to restore your power as quickly and safely as possible. As the snow piles up around our service territory, we expect outages. You can count on Avista to get the lights back on right away, but it’s always best to be prepared at home. Check out these winter weather tips to keep in mind. Jan 18 , 2012 H95
If you’ve traveled along Highway 95 in North Idaho by Silverwood recently, you may have seen Avista natural gas crews working alongside 6 miles of the busy highway. The Idaho Department of Transportation is reconstructing a portion of Highway 95 from approximately Chilco to Athol.
Avista has to move its existing pipeline and is expanding the capacity of the pipeline from 3 to 6 inches. Expanded capacity helps serve existing customer needs and helps prepare infrastructure for the future. The estimated cost for this project is around $1.4 million. Part of Avista's requests for customer rate adjustments typically includes infrastructure work like this project.
Dec 01 , 2011
If you have a creative high school student at your house, here’s an idea that can pay off in more ways than one – Avista’s third annual Every Little Bit video contest.
By creating and submitting a 30-second to two minute video about ways we can all limit our energy use, students attending high schools served by Avista could receive a $1,500 or $2,500 tech grant for their school. Plus, students could receive individual awards like an iPad 2, iPod Nano and iTunes gift card.
Videos must be uploaded to Avista’s website – www.everylittlebitvideo.com – by Dec. 16. Visitors to the site can vote online for their favorite video until Jan. 13, 2012, when a panel of judges will select the video winners. Judging criteria will include energy efficiency message, originality of approach, creativity, design and style.
Participating in the video contest could have lasting benefits. We hope that by engaging youth in the importance of energy efficiency today, it will help them value saving energy even more when they become customers tomorrow.
Nov 29 , 2011
Powering Our Future Video
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The Powering Our Future event featured an interactive
game in resource planning. Participants worked in
small groups to build upon an existing resource mix
portfolio in order to meet the energy needs of their
customers over the next 20 years. |
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The purpose of the game was to educate our
customers about the complexities of the power
planning process and to help them understand how
Avista plans for our energy future while meeting
renewable portfolio standards in a cost-effective
way.
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Avista hosted another successful Powering Our Future event, the third in a series, on Thursday, Nov. 17 at CenterPlace in Spokane Valley. The evening was filled with thoughtful insight, conversation and even a game that put guests in the shoes of a power supply planner for a northwest utility company. The event required reservations, but was open to the public and free to attend.
Dick Storro, Avista’s Vice-President of energy resources, kicked off the event before keynote speaker, Jim Yost, from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council spoke about the importance of balancing the environmental and energy needs of the Northwest. Bob Lafferty, Avista’s Director of Power Supply, teed up the rest of the evening with an engaging discussion about how Avista plans to meet customers’ needs reliably and responsibly while integrating renewable resources.
The evening then shifted gears with an interactive game in power planning. Participants worked in small groups to build upon an existing portfolio of resources in order to meet energy needs of customers over the next 20 years. They were able to choose from a mix of resources such as solar, wind, coal, nuclear power, natural gas, conservation, biomass and hydroelectric power.
Once the groups decided on their preferred resource strategy, they were able to see the impact of their decisions on a computer module. The module displayed how their choices impacted carbon emissions, energy costs, the ability to meet peak demand and whether or not their preferred mix satisfied Washington State renewable energy credits.
“The interactive element of the program helped our guests understand the complexities of the power planning process,” Lafferty said. “By giving them a game to play, they were able to see the cost and environmental tradeoffs of their decisions as well as whether their choices met peak demand.”
The event was capped off with a lively question and answer session followed by a social hour where attendees were given the opportunity to mingle with speakers and Avista employees. The purpose of the event was to educate customers about how Avista plans for the future of energy while also meeting renewable portfolio standards in a cost-effective way.
Nov 08 , 2011
Noxon video
The last turbine to be upgraded at Noxon Rapids Dam was removed from service on Oct. 19, 2011. Avista's Brandi Smith interviewed project engineer P.J. Henscheid on the big day. See the video above.
The removal of the turbine is part of a $45 million project to upgrade four original generating units with newer, more efficient technology. The project started in July 2008 and is on schedule to be finished by spring 2012.
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