Signs agreements with 7 projects, 4 to be built in Oregon by end of 2016 including Bear Creek Solar Center in Bend and in Madras Adams Solar Center and Elbe Solar Center.
Pacific Power has contracted with the owners of seven renewable energy projects to acquire the renewable attributes of those projects to help meet the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) of Oregon, Washington and California. Four of these projects are new solar projects scheduled to begin operation in Oregon in the fourth quarter of 2016 to deliver power to the PacifiCorp energy grid. Two other new solar projects in Utah achieved commercial operation in the past year. The single wind project in the group is located in Colorado.
“These agreements extend our investment in renewable energy on our customers’ behalf,” said Rick Link, director of origination at Pacific Power. “As the result of our recent request for proposals for renewable resources, we have found these acquisitions to be cost-effective steps we can take to provide customers the cleaner energy they want. In the case of Oregon and the recently passed Clean Electricity and Coal Transition Act, which increases the Oregon RPS to 50 percent by 2040, these contracts combined with our existing renewable resource portfolio will keep the company in compliance through 2028.”
The seven projects will provide an aggregate capacity of 168.5 megawatts, enough energy to power over 25,000 average homes. Pacific Power will be acquiring the renewable attributes of these projects called “Renewable Energy Certificates” or RECs. Each REC represents a megawatt hour of renewable energy. RECs are “retired” with an independent agency to show compliance with the RPS. The agreements involve the purchase of future-generated RECs from all six solar projects and previously generated RECs from the wind project.
With the solar projects, both the existing ones in Utah and the planned ones in Oregon, PacifiCorp had already agreed to buy the power output of the plants. Now buying the RECs allows the company to apply the contracts toward the RPS goals set by the states Pacific Power serves.
The projects are:
Bend, Oregon
Bear Creek Solar Center — 10 MW scheduled construction completion, fourth quarter 2016
Bly, Oregon
Bly Solar Center 8.5 MW scheduled construction completion, fourth quarter 2016
Madras, Oregon
Adams Solar Center 10 MW scheduled construction completion, fourth quarter 2016
Elbe Solar Center 10 MW scheduled construction completion, fourth quarter 2016
Logan, Colorado
Logan Wind Energy 201 MW, not connected to PacifiCorp system
Milford County, Utah
Pavant Solar 50 MW
Iron County, Utah
Enterprise Solar 80 MW
The company expects the one-time rate impact of these agreements to be around 1/20th of one percent, or about a nickel on a hundred dollar electric bill for Oregon customers.
About Pacific Power
Pacific Power provides electric service to more than 740,000 customers in Oregon, Washington and California. The company works to meet growing energy demand while protecting and enhancing the environment. Pacific Power is part of PacifiCorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity providers in the United States, with almost 1.8 million customers in six western states. Information about Pacific Power is available on the company’s website, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages, which can be accessed via pacificpower.net.
