NW Energy Coalition – For a clean and affordable energy future

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More and more utilities are rushing to substitute gas-fired combustion turbines for coal in their resource plans while rapidly expanding their use of renewables and efficiency. But are the assumptions behind this change correct? The new rush to gas is raising serious questions about domestic and international supply, price and price volatility, and lifecycle carbon emissions. This edition of The Transformer addresses those questions and considers the controversy surrounding liquefied natural gas.

Using simple smart water heaters to integrate intermittent renewables
– Wind-generated power is clean, relatively cheap and available in large quantities. But the wind itself is quite unpredictable, so much so that for each average megawatt (aMW) of wind power we need, we must erect about 3 megawatts of turbine capacity, since actual output could be anywhere from 0 to 3 megawatts at any instant.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are a step beyond traditional hybrid vehicles. Much of their fuel comes directly from the electric grid, and thus their extensive employment has significant implications for the electric power system.

This issue of The Transformer considers those implications…

Vol. 5, No. 3

When big money talks, it pays to listen:
Financiers cast critical eye on coal plant proposals

Background
This February, a press release from four of the country’s largest financial institutions caught utilities’ attention. Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Chase and Bank of America announced they had endorsed a set of carbon principles to be followed when evaluating [...]

Points and counterpoints
on decoupling Transformer
Background
Our Nov. 28 Transformer on decoupling, a strategy for overcoming potential revenue losses for utilities that invest in energy efficiency, elicited a flurry of electronic responses. Several writers were complimentary; others sought clarifications of insider terminology (we’ll keep working on that!) or additional information, which we supplied them individually.
Two correspondents challenged [...]

Size matters
‘Mega’ wind farms could make new transmission practical
Background
The number and size of new and projected Northwest wind farms have exploded, matching the worldwide annual growth rate of 37-percent for the past seven years.
Wind, however, continues to provide just a small fraction of the region’s power. To really combat global warming — and to meet [...]

Volume 4, Number 8
Decoupling 101:
Breaking the link between energy sales and utility revenue
Background
Who doesn’t love conservation? We all know that more efficient energy use is the cheapest and cleanest resource going. The recognition that “the cheapest kilowatt is the one we don’t use” hardly qualifies as a “Eureka!” moment any more.
So why must clean-energy [...]

Volume 4, Number 7
PacifiCorp’s dilemma
Background
PacifiCorp is a large investor-owned utility serving portions of six states: Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, California, Washington and Idaho. In the not-to-distant past, NW Energy Coalition and other clean-energy advocacy groups commended PacifiCorp’s foresight in assessing the cost of carbon emissions while compiling its 2004 integrated resource plan (IRP) and including some [...]

Volume 4, Number 6

Clean energy forces win a lot, lose a little
in BPA’s power allocation scheme

Table of Contents
Background
Double, double, toil and trouble – The basic problem
Renewed interest – Renewables commitment
Tracks of my tiers – Meeting load growth
How high’s the water, momma? – Power allocations
Fish keep the lights on – Resource adequacy and fish
Fourth and goal [...]