Providing balanced information for using water as a renewable energy resource in the Northwest
By Hal Bernton Seattle Times The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) this week released a new proposal to share the “oversupply costs” that pile up when there is not enough demand for all the electricity produced by hydroelectric dams…
By Kyung M. Song The Seattle Times WASHINGTON — After much dithering, Congress earlier this month gave a lift to wind-power producers by renewing a tax credit worth more than $12 billion over the next decade. But the…
By Staff The Columbian Vancouver — Washington’s 17 largest electric utilities, including Clark Public Utilities, have exceeded initial energy efficiency goals of the state’s voter-approved clean energy law and easily exceeded its renewables standard, according to a new…
By Steven DuBois Seattle Times PORTLAND, Ore. — The Bonneville Power Administration twice ordered Pacific Northwest wind farms to cut production in recent days because it has a surplus of power from hydroelectric dams. The agency, which manages…
By BPA News Release Portland, Ore. – The Bonneville Power Administration today proposed compensating wind energy producers within its section of the grid for periodically reducing their output when necessary to keep the electricity supply from exceeding demand…
By Associated Press Wenatchee World SEATTLE (AP) — Large utilities in Washington state will soon have to get at least part of their power from new renewable sources like wind and solar. But with a voter-mandated 2012 deadline…
By Becky Kramer Spokesman Review One of the conundrums of wind energy is that the wind doesn’t blow constantly. In the Northwest, most wind farms operate at about 30 percent capacity, which means backup electrical generation is needed….
By Associated Press The Wenatchee World PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal regulators on Wednesday ruled in favor of Northwest wind power generators who objected to being ordered to shut down at times this spring when the Columbia River…
By Tim Fought, Associated Press The Columbian PORTLAND — A big spring rise in the Columbia River basin has finally washed out to sea, meaning that turbines in the region’s wind farms are back at full output. While…
By Erin Mills East Oregonian BPA declines to allow wind farms ‘negative pricing,’ for times of overgeneration between water, wind The proliferation of wind turbines in the Pacific Northwest has exacerbated the old problem of overgeneration for the…