A USD2.5 billion plan to create one of the region’s larger power generation plants, could be made possible with a proposed change in Washington state law. Klickitat Public Utility District (PUD) is planning to use surplus wind power to pump water uphill where it will be held for later release to generate power when needed. PUD chairman Randy Knowles has said that the utility is in search of financial partners for the project and hope to begin construction in two years. The proposed plant would be the 6th or 7th largest power generation facility on the Columbia River with 1,200megawatts that could supply over 360,000 homes.
Senator Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, has given the proposal a boost by sponsoring a bill to change an 81-year old state law governing public utility districts. The bill passed both chambers unanimously and is awaiting Governor Chris Gregoire’s signature. The change will allow utility districts along the Columbia River to sell water rights to a privately owned utility to generate electricity and was specifically crafted to fit the utility’s needs.
The pump storage plant will be built on the site of the former Goldendale aluminum plant where Klickitat PUD owns the water right. By moving water between an upper and lower reservoir, a pump storage plant is able to generate electricity. In off-peak periods, electricity is used to pump water into the upper reservoir and then water is released at peak usage times when there is a higher electricity demand. Banks Lake near Grand Coulee Dam is the only pump storage facility in the state, which stores water for irrigation in the Columbia Basin Project.
Pump storage is being considered a good way to integrate the increased power generation by wind farms into the region’s power grid transmission system by The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which markets power from dams along the Columbia River. Having struggled with the variability of the increased wind power capacity, the BPA must keep hydroelectric generation capacity in reserve so that interruption is avoided when wind power production decreases. In 2011, the agency ordered wind farms be shut down when power was in surplus which federal regulators argued discriminated against wind farms. The agency has released a proposed plan to share the cost during times of oversupply.