Providing balanced information for using water as a renewable energy resource in the Northwest
By Christine Pratt Wenatchee World A unprecedented boom in applications to the Chelan County PUD for large amounts of power for upstart server farms is threatening the business model the utility has depended on to keep rates low…
By Christine Pratt Wenatchee World The Columbia River behind Wanapum Dam hit its targeted 17-foot elevation increase 10 days ahead of schedule, but the shoreline remains closed, Grant County PUD officials said Tuesday. Read more
By Rocky Barker Idaho Statesman History says the situation could be disastrous for Idaho’s salmon and steelhead. A mass of warm water thousands of square miles in size that was five degrees Fahrenheit above average on the surface…
by Keith Ridler The Seattle Times Strategies used to bring back from the brink of extinction a population of central Idaho sockeye salmon have been so successful they could be used as a blueprint to prevent other extinctions,…
The News Tribune A little after 8 a.m. at the Cowlitz River Salmon Hatchery, about 800 coho idle in a narrow concrete channel impatiently leaping at the stainless steel grate barring their journey upriver. “It’s kind of slow…
By Cheryl Schweizer Seattle Times Grant County PUD officials should start raising the water behind Wanapum Dam sometime before the end of 2014. Construction work to repair a cracked spillway pillar and stabilize the rest of the dam…
By Ted Sickinger The Oregonian PacifiCorp this week trumpeted the kick-off of its participation in an “energy imbalance market” with California’s independent grid operator. It was the kind of announcement that only a utility wonk could love. Yet…
By The Associated Press The Oregonian Sea lions may be killing more returning salmon at the mouth of the Columbia River than previously thought, according to research on fish survival. Preliminary research by NOAA Fisheries shows a steady…
By, Northwest Part of Energy Department $10 Million Funding for Full-Scale Wave Energy Device Testing The Energy Department, in coordination with the Navy, today announced funding for two companies that will continue to advance marine and hydrokinetic (MHK)…
By Energy Department Making Hydropower More Eco-Friendly Hydropower has long provided a flexible, low-cost, and renewable source of power for the United States—since the 1800s, in fact. Even today, in fact, hydropower accounted for roughly half of the nation’s…