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Aluminum CEO Fueling Rush to Gas
Goldendale and Northwest Aluminum joined the growing ranks of potential natural gas power plant developers last month by proposing to build a 248 megawatt (MW) combustion turbine near Goldendale, Washington. Brett Wilcox , the owner of the two aluminum plants, is suggesting the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) acquire the output of the plant and resell it to Goldendale Aluminum at a discount for the transmission benefits he claims the plant would provide. In return, Wilcox indicated his two smelters would stop lobbying for more BPA power.
The Goldendale plant proposal comes as Northwest utilities, power planners and energy policy makers debate how to address the prospect of regional power shortages which are given a one-in-four chance of occurring at times of peak energy demand over the next four years. While most stakeholders agree solutions to the short-term need include implementing targeted energy conservation measures, identifying interruptible power users and other load management strategies, they also claim new generation will be necessary to stave off long-term reliability threats.
Since the wholesale market was restructured in 1992, proposals for new gas-fired power plants, totaling more than 5000 MW, have popped up all over the region. But little information exists on whether they make sense for the region's overall power delivery system. It is unclear, for example, whether the 660 MW facility proposed in Sumas, Washington , would help or harm reliability. If power from the plant must travel through the heavily used Puget Sound transmission corrider to reach other parts of the Northwest or California , it could add to growing congestion problems.
Beyond reliability considerations, the region must grapple with the environmental implications of relying on natural gas generation to feed growing demand. Long-term affordability must come into play because what is cheap today might not be tomorrow. The price of natural gas is rising and is likely to continue to rise over the life of any new gas plants.
Mark Glyde