Power Resources
EPUD currently purchases most of its electricity from the Bonneville
Power Administration (BPA). This power comes from a mixture of sources,
including federal dams on the Columbia River (60-75%), the Columbia
Generating Station nuclear plant (10%), and import purchases and
exchanges (15-30%). We also generate approximately 3% of our own
electricity from Short Mountain Methane Power Plant. At this time,
Short Mountain generates enough electricity to power 1,500 homes by
burning the methane released from the decomposition of garbage at the
landfill.
For those customers who want to invest in renewable energy
development, we offer the option to purchase the equivalent of either
50% or 100% of the energy they consume in Renewable Energy Credits
(REC’s) from green energy sources. EPUD purchases an average of 5 MW
of green energy, enough to supply 3,000 homes.
New BPA Product SLICE/BLOCK:
A change occurring for EPUD in October 2011 involves the move to a new power purchase contract with BPA. This new contract is known as a “Slice of the System” (Slice) agreement, whereby half of EPUD’s low-cost “Tier 1” power supply is tied to a fixed percentage of the actual Federal system output. This is different from the way BPA has historically provided power to EPUD. Throughout our history, BPA has met all of our hourly load needs regardless of how much we were demanding and when we were demanding it.
Going forward under Slice, EPUD will now be responsible for handling hourly gaps between our load and the resources we have available. This additional flexibility and local control should allow us to better integrate conservation and other renewable resources. This aspect of the product was attractive to the EPUD citizen committee that recommended it a number of years ago. However, the Slice contract can also present risk if we are forced to buy power on the open market during times of high prices. In preparation for this, EPUD Staff has been working over the past year to put proper risk management policies and procedures in place, similar to those used at other Northwest public utilities operating under Slice. Examples of other Slice customers include EWEB, Benton County PUD, Franklin County PUD, Clark Public Utilities, Klickitat PUD, and Tacoma Power.
For more information on the Slice/Block product read "A Slice Story" HERE.