http://djcoregon.com/news/2010/12/28/2b-in-transmission-lines-planned-in-oregon/
More than $2 billion worth of transmission lines are planned throughout Oregon in the next decade, according to the state’s major utilities - PacifiCorp, Portland General Electric and Idaho Power. They say their systems cannot handle increased demand and new wind, geothermal and biomass projects coming online.
After Oregon’s hydropower dams were constructed in the 1930s, aluminum smelters looked to tap into cheap power along the Columbia River. That led to construction of the transmission network the state uses today, according to Mike Mikolaitis, director of transmission projects for Portland General Electric. Today, however, those lines are increasingly congested.
“Transmission lines are like the freeway of our electrical system,” Mikolaitis said. “At rush hour, there’s a limit to what can go on the freeway without causing a backup. Our electrical transmission system in Oregon is congested and inadequate to deliver most of the renewable energy being built in the eastern part of the state.”
PGE’s proposed solution is Cascade Crossing, a 500-kilovolt, 187-mile-long transmission line that would cut across a national forest, tribal lands and private parcels between Boardman and Salem. The $823 million project is the largest of its kind to be proposed in the last 30 years, according to Deb Schallert, head of permitting for Cascade Crossing.
“In my lifetime, I’ve never permitted a major transmission line like this,” Schallert said. “Public-land stakeholders want to know what habitat impacts are at stake. Private landowners want to know why we need to use land they own. The Warm Springs Tribe is a sovereign nation and has its own process to comment on the route. The challenge we’ve faced consistently is educating people about why we need new transmission.”
PGE predicts a 45 percent increase in electricity demand over the next 20 years, according to its Integrated Resource Plan. PacifiCorp says transmission line development over the next 20 to 25 years is essential for grid reliability to be maintained. Since 2007, PacifiCorp has planned its own major transmission project, Energy Gateway, a $6 billion, 2,000-mile-long transmission line project that will snake through Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon.
John Cupparo, PacifiCorp’s vice president of transmission, said for the last three years he has stayed up late at night thinking about how to implement such a gigantic project. Energy Gateway will pass through federal lands, requiring years of studies of cultural and environmental issues along the proposed route. The timing of those federal processes, Cupparo said, will determine whether the project is delivered on time and within the budget.
“There are so many different stakeholders and differing perspectives on what the right answer is,” Cupparo said. “These are not cheap projects; we just brought in the first segment of Energy Gateway for $830 million. As the Bureau of Land Management and others work through all of the environmental, cultural and other issues, it takes time. And we need certainty that we can get the capacity installed on time.”
The Bonneville Power Administration has approximately $900 million of transmission line projects in environmental review, according to company spokesman Doug Johnson, mostly because of transmission service requests for wind projects in Oregon and Washington. The BPA, a federal entity, can condemn property or use eminent domain, but the agency has been trying to avoid doing so, Johnson said.
“We only use eminent domain as a last resort,” Johnson said. “You want to meet electrical needs, but you also need to respond to concerns from communities along the way. That’s why public process is so important.”
Mikolaitis added that not building transmission lines is not an option. As more entities connect to Oregon’s grid, the possibility of popping circuits becomes more likely.
“We’ve already seen reliability issues with our transmission during wind and ice storms,” Mikolaitis said. “You have to remember: The entire western U.S. shares a grid. If there’s a problem on the transmission level in Oregon, it could result in a blackout over a number of states. There’s a reason utilities are doing this collectively, not just individually.”
