Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Avista’s Low-Cost Energy Audits to End (Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA)


Montana Wildfires Plague Electric Cooperatives (Electric Co-op Today)


Power Marketing Administration Changes? Federal Energy Officials Hear Local Utilities’ Concerns about Proposed Electrical Grid Improvements (Sacramento Bee, CA)


Half of India Crippled by Second Day of Power Failures (NY Times)


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/world/asia/power-outages-hit-600-million-in-india.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Pacific Northwest Utilities Exceed Green Power Minimum (Northwest Public Radio)


Nisqually River Valley Community Invited to Celebrate 100 Years of Electric Generation (Tacoma Power, WA)

A century ago, Tacoma Power (Wash.) began generating power at the LaGrande Powerhouse – its first hydroelectric facility. The media and the community are invited to celebrate 100 years of green, renewable power at the Nisqually River Project from 1 to 3 p.m. on August 10.

Community members who attend the event will be entered in a drawing for a tour of the 100-year-old powerhouse, where the original turbines still generate power today. The media can arrange for tours in advance. The event will also feature interactive displays, facility tours, and food.

Tacoma finished the LaGrande Powerhouse in 1912, amidst controversy. The city wanted independence from the private companies that supplied power to Tacoma. Stone & Webster, the Boston company that provided service, raised its rates and shut off power to the city’s water pumps prior to the completion of the project.

Tacoma voters approved (with a 75 percent approval rate) a $2.3 million bond measure in 1909 to build the LaGrande Powerhouse.

Tacoma Power began construction in 1910, and completed it in 1912. The Tacoma Timesreported in June 1915 that the project had already earned more than $1.25 million.

Although modified, the original turbines in the LaGrande Powerhouse still operate today.

Williams Plans to Double Natural Gas Volume in Lewis County Pipeline (KELA Radio, Centralia, WA)

(CHEHALIS) – The proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Oregon has a Lewis County connection.  The Williams Company wants to build a new natural gas line from Sumas to Woodland.  A company spokeswoman says they’d mostly work inside their existing right-of-way.  That means the existing 30-inch pipeline would get a bigger brother, a 36-inch pipeline. That’s an extra 750 million cubic feet of natural gas a day or a 50-percent increase. The pipeline isn’t expected to be operational  until 2018.  An open house is planned August 17 at the Veteran’s Memorial Museum in Chehalis at 6 p.m.