BPA catching up on wind power integration

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BPA is working on building out its transmission network to better integrate wind energy, even as new wind development may be slowing in the region.

Groundbreaking this week on a $185 million high-voltage power line is part of an increased push by the Bonneville Power Administration to integrate wind power in the Northwest — even as new signals are emerging that wind power development might be slowing in the region.

The 28-mile Big Eddy-Knight Line that kicked off this week, slated to connect The Dalles to a new substation near Goldendale, Wash., is one of six major power transmission projects intended to meet new transmission demands in the Northwest, in large part to accommodate wind.

Of the six, one is slowing as energy developers call for changes that may be early signs of a decline in new wind farm development.

BPA officials say its active projects are part of an ongoing strategy to meet power transmission needs, particularly as wind power increases demands. BPA has approximately 3,500 megawatts of wind capacity on its system today and anticipates having between 6,000 and 7,000 by 2013.

The effort to plan for that increase — and a variety of other drivers boosting transmission needs — has ticked along at BPA since 2008, when the agency first convened its Network Open Season process, the agency's method of tracking and responding to transmission requests.

"Network Open Season kind of came about as a means to get our arms around who really wanted transmission service right now. As I remember, back in 2008, we knew wind would be a big part of that," said Doug Johnson, BPA spokesperson.

The project gauged transmission needs by collecting financial commitments toward requested service, called Precedent Transmission Service Agreements, from energy developers. BPA began the inquiry with roughly 500 megawatts of wind capacity online with goals of planning for 6,000 megawatts of wind in 2020.

"I remember we were blown away when we saw how many (service agreements) we actually got signed, how big a chuck of that was wind," he said. "If you look at where we are now… we got there way early."

Demands for transmission continue to shift, with one transmission project being scaled back, but Johnson said new wind projects account for approximately 60 percent of current transmission requests.

BPA has meanwhile developed a multi-pronged approach to broadening its transmission capabilities, focusing some projects along its existing transmission backbone along the Columbia River and others on moving power east and west and north and south across its balancing area.

The other projects, mapped out here, include:

• McNary-JohnDay. The 79-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line, is under construction and will be operating by February. The $170 million project provides 3,881 megawatts of new service, 3,138 for wind projects.
• I-5 Reinforcement. This project includes a 70-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line and two new 500-kilovolt substations, one at Castle Rock, Wash. and one in Troutdale, Ore. The $342 million project provides 2,093 megawatts of new service, with 100 megawatts serving wind. Its draft environmental impact study in the fall of 2009. A number of potential alternatives are now being reviewed.
• Colstrip Update Project West Reinforcement. The $115.5 million project is dedicated to service upgrades. It will add 605 megawatts of new service, 480 for wind. A phase-two study of the project is currently underway, and a work schedule is likely to be released in December. The project is expected to take four years from its official launch to completion.
• Northern Intertie Reinforcement. This effort calls for system upgrades on both the eastern and western portions of the Northern Intertie, including rebuilding of 82 miles of transmission line. The $70 million project will add 1,100 megawatts of new transmission service. It does not directly serve new wind projects. It will be completed by 2015.
• Central Ferry-Lower Monumental. The 40-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line, was intended to create 1,595 megawatts of new service, 1,280 for wind. The $90 million project recently went out to bid but BPA opted not to let the contract for preliminary construction work amid signals from service agreement holders.

"What we've heard people say who signed (service agreements) in the 2008 and 2009 period is that their business have changed so much," they are unsure they want to move forward as planned, said Lauren Nichols-Kinas, a policy analyst at BPA.

She said BPA does ask commercial entities to disclose why their transmission needs change.

But in its Sept. 5 issue, Clearing Up, a subscription-only news report from Energy NewsData, this week called the delay "a first sign of a lull in wind development in the region, as utilities lock up renewable resources in the face of impending (renewable portfolio standard) benchmarks."

BPA is currently reviewing developers' estimates for when projects will require integration into the transmission system and considering service agreement reform to add flexibility.

Lee van der Voo, lvdvoo*at*gmail.com, is a freelance writer for Sustainable Business Oregon.