NW Energy Coalition – For a clean and affordable energy future

How green is my electron? Overcoming the smart grid’s color blindness
Energy journals and, increasingly, the popular media now teem with updates and predictions on developing “smart grid” technologies … how they will help smooth power demand, greatly improve efficiency and outage/service response, and reward consumers with lower bills.

This issue of The Transformer tackles the question of why the smart grid isn’t necessarily a green grid and, in fact, could actually foster greater demand for power from coal-fueled or nuclear baseload plants. It also presents one proposed means of dealing with the problem: buying green electrons…

The Daily Journal of Commerce Oregon talks about the eventual shutdown of the Boardman coal-fired power plant and what might replace the power it generates. You can read the article here.

The NW Energy Coalition (NWEC or “Coalition”) appreciates this opportunity to
comment on Portland General’s Integrated Resource Plan, as amended (IRP or “Plan”). Although PGE’s Plan encompasses a great number of issues, we will focus in these comments on two central questions: (1) a request to acknowledge a preferred Action Plan that includes the 2020 shutdown of Boardman; and, (2) a related request to approve an “alternative Action Plan” if the Company is unable to resolve several difficult regulatory contingencies by March 31, 2011, making the preferred plan, in PGE’s determination, impossible to complete.

Here’s some recent energy updates from Montana, submitted by NW Energy Coalition Montana caucus chair Chuck Magraw…

Clean energy activists from across Washington state braved wind, rain and soggy footing to bring the coal-free message to the State Capitol in Olympia on Saturday, Feb. 27. Learn more about the event and see photos inside.

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.

Official NW Energy Coalition comments on a proposed air-quality agreement between Washington state and Centralia, Wash., coal plant owner TransAlta reflect a significant weakening of mercury emissions requirements from those adopted in 11 other states and previously considered by Washington state officials.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council, the region’s official power planning agency, is currently seeking public comment on its draft 6th Northwest Power and Conservation Plan, which assesses the region’s long-term electricity needs and identifies power sources to meet them with.

Another one bites the dust
Clean energy activists combine efforts to defeat dirty coal plant

Four years of multi-pronged efforts by clean energy activists throughout the West have resulted in the official death of a proposed dirty coal plant in Utah known as IPP3. Legislative, regulatory and electoral campaigns were waged and won in at least six states to secure the victory.

An IGCC or “clean coal” plant actually combines three distinct technologies – a gasifier, a combustion turbine and a steam turbine. In the first phase, gasification, coal is heated to produce a gas. In phase two the gas turns a turbine (similar to a high-powered airplane engine) to make electricity. In phase three the excess heat from the turbine is captured and used to boil water to make steam, which is then used to make electricity. [PDF]