Creston Backers Plan Second Project

Backers of a proposed natural gas-fired power plant at Creston, Wash., have optioned a site for a second, smaller plant in Columbia County, officials said Monday.

Steve Strasser, president of Bellevue, Wash.-based KVA Resources Inc., said the facility at Starbuck, Wash., would generate up to 240 megawatts of electricity during periods of peak demand, such as cold snaps. In comparison, the Creston plant would operate continuously, producing 838 megawatts, he said.

The Starbuck site, Strasser said, has the advantages of being located next to both the Pacific Gas Transmission pipeline that would provide fuel and Bonneville Power Administration lines over which electricity could be transmitted to markets on the West Coast.

Assistant Project Manager Hunter Horvath added that the site already is zoned heavy industrial, which would help speed up approval of permits for the plant.

KVA and CSW Energy Inc., a Dallas-based partner, also are developing a 240-megawatt project on the site of an old paper mill in Everett.

The projects are among a multitude trying to capitalize on low natural gas prices, the decreasing availability of hydropower and growing electricity demand.

To improve its position in an increasingly competitive market, the two partners also announced Monday that they would be joined by KLT Inc., a subsidiary of Kansas City Power & Light Co., to create Northwest Power Co.

Strasser said KLT would bolster the venture’s financial standing and its expertise in utility markets.

Separately, KVA and KLT have formed Northwest Power Marketing Co. to sell energy from their own projects and to broker other energy sales, Strasser said.

“West Coast power markets require that industry players have the expertise to package, market and deliver power and the financial resources to develop new power resources for the long term,” he said. “This new partnership certainly accomplishes those goals.”

, DataTimes