Cowlitz Public Utility District purchased out one in every of its three companions in a Columbia River Gorge wind venture, giving the Longview-based utility supplier a controlling stake.
Whereas the wind venture produces electrical energy, the principle purpose of the $4.5 million buy is to satisfy authorized requirements set by Washington’s 2019 clear power regulation, senior PUD workers mentioned.
The 43-turbine Harvest Wind Undertaking sits on 15 sq. miles off the Columbia River in Klickitat County and produces sufficient energy to serve an estimated 14,000 residents annually, its web site says.
The Wednesday buy comes at a time when the area’s power future is in flux.
Demand is projected to probably double across the Northwest within the subsequent twenty years as tech giants inject power-hungry synthetic intelligence into each facet of life, and electrification of autos and residential home equipment takes off. Even low demand projections nonetheless go away the area in a shortfall.
The utility’s basic supervisor, Gary Huhta, mentioned Cowlitz County will see “a little bit of projected demand growth.” The county’s inhabitants has additionally grown constantly, information reveals.
Previous to the April 30 buy, Cowlitz PUD had a 30 % stake within the Klickitat County-based Harvest Wind Undertaking from when the venture got here on-line in 2009.
That authentic buy was additionally to adjust to a state environmental regulation, that point the 2006 Vitality Independence Act, Huhta mentioned. That regulation requires utilities to get a rising share of their power from renewable sources that aren’t hydropower: 3 % in 2012, 9 % in 2016 and 15 % in 2020.
After the April 30 stake buy, the utility now owns 60 % of the wind venture, which helps it adjust to the 2019 regulation.
Huhta mentioned the newer regulation requires the utility to get 80 % of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, with renewable credit filling within the the rest. That 80 % requirement will bounce to one hundred pc by 2045.
Whereas the shift from getting 15 % of its energy from renewable sources to 80 % in only one decade sounds dramatic, a lot of that distinction is made up by hydropower now being counted as renewable, Huhta mentioned. However nonetheless, the fast, legally mandated transition has pressured Cowlitz PUD to maneuver quick.
“We were actually starting to project some shortfalls in our clean energy needs as early as ’28 or ’29,” Huhta mentioned. “So trying to plan for those future requirements, we felt like this opportunity to acquire an additional 30 percent share of harvest was a good step towards meeting those future obligations.”
The utility shared its place and key details in assist of the acquisition in a written abstract of the Cowlitz PUD board of commissioners’ Feb. 11 assembly.
Along with enabling authorized compliance, the abstract additionally argued that the acquisition was savvy as a result of the wind venture has been maintained effectively, and the area faces an total lack of latest energy era and transmission initiatives.
Huhta mentioned the utility usually doesn’t use the ability the wind venture generates. As a substitute, it sells that energy off to get credit to conform.
Beforehand, it was shopping for the credit to satisfy requirements. However with the credit’ costs leaping and their availability shrinking, Huhta mentioned, having the ability to be on the opposite finish of the transaction turned the catalyst for the acquisition.
When constructed, the venture value $160 million, with about $60 million of that coming from federal grants.
The comparably low price ticket for the 30 % stake in contrast with the venture at giant is as a result of the venture is nearing the tip of its lifespan, though the routine upkeep could extend that, Huhta mentioned.
