PGE wins industry's highest honor for salmon work

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Portland General Electric Co. on Monday won the 2010 Edison Award, the electric utility industry’s highest honor.

The award is granted annually by the Edison Electric Institute in recognition of U.S. and international utilities that play a role in advancing the industry. A panel of former utility CEOs selected PGE for the honor, which was announced at the trade group’s annual convention in Hollywood, Fla.

The Portland-based utility (NYSE: POR) was selected based on work with the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation that for the first time in 40 years restored a critical passageway for salmon in the Deschutes River.

PGE last year completed a fish intake and bypass project at its 465-megawatt Pelton Round Butte hydorelectric dam.

The project involved building a 273-foot-tall intake structure that attracts fish traveling downstream and provides safe passage for salmon to be sorted and transferred. Called a Selective Water Withdrawal Structure, it also restores historical water temperature patterns in the river while maintaining the hydroelectric plant’s generating capacity.

PGE co-owns the facility with the tribes.

Edison Electric Institute President Tom Kuhn lauded PGE for working with more than 22 government bodies as well as environmental advocates and engineering teams.

“The company’s outstanding commitment to improving the salmon’s habitat resonates not only with local communities, but with the power industry, which is paying close attention to this great sustainability achievement via PGE’s top-notch engineering,” Kuhn said in a news release.

PGE shares were up 6 cents in mid-day trading to $18.75. Shares traded between $17.46 and $21.39 in the past 52 weeks.