PR 25 09

BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2009
CONTACT: Michael Milstein, 503-230-4215
NOTE TO MEDIA: Photo attached, map available

BPA brings more wind power into Northwest grid

New $3.7-million line and upgrade supports new wind project and jobs

Portland, Ore. - The Bonneville Power Administration this week began expanding and upgrading transmission lines near Milton-Freewater, Ore., to help carry power from a new 63-megawatt Eastern Oregon wind project to customers of Clark Public Utilities in Clark County, Wash.

The 5.8-mile upgrade includes two elements: a “tap” line tying the new Combine Hills Wind Project in Umatilla County, Ore., to the transmission system and upgrade of adjacent lines to handle the extra power. It is the seventh tap line BPA has built to a new wind project; BPA has also constructed five new substations to handle fast-growing wind energy.

BPA awarded the contract for the $3.7 million Combine Hills line project to International Line Builders, Inc., of Tualatin, Ore. The work involves replacing wooden poles and stringing new, higher-capacity wires along a line leading to a substation in Walla Walla, Wash. It will support about 25 construction jobs.

Wind energy in BPA’s power system has more than doubled since 2007, with a current capacity of more than 2,000 megawatts. BPA has absorbed a larger share of wind energy than any other utility of its size in the country and is moving ahead with major network upgrades to support continued wind power growth.

An initial Combine Hills Wind Project, developed by Eurus Energy America Corp. in 2003, has a capacity of 41 megawatts and is connected to Pacific Power transmission lines. Construction will begin shortly on a second Combine Hills project with a capacity of 63 megawatts. The upgraded line will tie this second project to the grid through BPA, while also improving local power reliability.

Clark Public Utilities, which serves customers throughout Washington’s Clark County, has agreed to purchase all of the wind project’s power for 20 years.

BPA is a not-for-profit federal electric utility that operates a high-voltage transmission grid comprising more than 15,000 miles of lines and associated substations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. It also markets more than a third of the electricity consumed in the Pacific Northwest. The power is produced at 31 federal dams operated by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation and one nuclear plant in the Northwest and is sold to more than 140 Northwest utilities. BPA purchases power from seven wind projects and has more than 2,000 megawatts of wind interconnected to its transmission system.

Crews remove wires from BPA transmission line so they can replace it with a higher capacity line.

Crews remove wires from a BPA transmission line in Umatilla County, Ore., so it can be replaced with a higher capacity line to handle power from a new nearby wind project. (Photo by Erich Orth/Bonneville Power Administration)

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Bonneville Power Administration
905 N.E. 11th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97232

Mailing Address: Media Relations - DM7, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, OR 97208-3621

Phone: (503)230-5131 FAX: (503) 230-5884 Web Site: http://www.bpa.gov

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