Happy February to all of our great customer-owners. To start the month off, I thought I’d say a few words about Emerald’s #1 resource for power generation: water.
As a consumer owned utility in the Northwest, Emerald is part of a close-knit “public power” community. Perhaps the greatest benefit of being in this club is the ability to purchase energy from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). BPA is a federal agency that operates a network of hydroelectric dams throughout the Columbia River basin and markets the output to public power customers.
These dams supply roughly half of the region’s power needs, and 90% of its renewable power supply. Crucially, as a public power utility, Emerald maintains “preference” rights to purchase directly from BPA at their cost of production. Emerald typically meets between 70%-80% of its customer’s needs through BPA power purchases.
Source: Northwest RiverPartners
In addition to its low cost of production, hydropower is also our region’s most reliable form of carbon-free electricity. In fact, BPA’s carbon footprint is almost too small to measure when compared to the resource mix of both the broader Northwest and the nation overall.
Source: Hydropower in the Northwest (BPA)
Source: Hydropower in the Northwest (BPA)
Last week, Emerald’s Board of Directors heard a presentation from Kurt Miller, the Executive Director of Northwest RiverPartners. Mr. Miller’s group advocates on behalf of public power and other parties interested in maintaining the hydropower system. There’s a growing movement to remove several of the dams along the Snake River that provide much of BPA’s power generation. The groups behind this effort are well funded and have worked hard to give hydropower a bad name.
What does this mean for Emerald’s customers? Mr. Miller shared that, were these Snake River dams to come down, the rates we pay to BPA could increase by as much as 50%. This is based on the incremental cost to replace the lost energy and capacity, which would need to come from much more expensive wind/solar and storage solutions.
Source: Northwest RiverPartners
Emerald has recently rejoined Northwest RiverPartners and will be working with our partners throughout the industry to maintain the benefits of hydropower. If you’d like to learn more about this resource, I’ve included some information below. You can also check out the following resources:
- Hydropower in the Northwest (BPA)
- Hydropower: How the Federal Columbia River Power System works for you (BPA)
- Hydropower 101 (BPA)
- Benefits of Hydropower (U.S. Department of Energy)
- Northwest RiverPartners
- The Value of Hydropower to the Northwest Grid (PNUCC)
Please stay safe,
Source: Hydropower: How the Federal Columbia River Power System works for you (BPA)
Source: Hydropower: How the Federal Columbia River Power System works for you (BPA)