Creston May Get Power Facility Region’S Future Energy Needs Will Determine Plant’S Feasibility

A long-dormant plan for a massive power plant at Creston, Wash., may get a boost from pending changes in the Northwest energy market, says the president of the Bellevue company backing the plant.

Steve Strasser said Northwest Power Enterprises Inc. could bring its 938-megawatt generator on line as soon as 2003 if growing energy demand outstrips the supply from existing plants and others in development.

The Northwest Regional Power Facility would be constructed about 60 miles west of Spokane near U.S. Highway 2. A Bonneville Power Administration transmission line runs through the site, where Avista Corp. once planned to build a coal-fired generator.

The Northwest Power plant, with six turbines, would be fueled by natural gas piped through a connector to the Pacific Gas Transmission main south of Spokane.

The project obtained environmental permits from Bonneville and the state of Washington two years ago.

But while plans for smaller natural gasfired plants moved forward, Creston’s size and lack of access to a pipeline stymied development, Strasser said.

Permitting for a pipeline would take 18 to 24 months, he estimated.

Last month, Northwest Power sold the right to build a 248-megawatt plant at Everett to FPL Energy, a subsidiary of Florida-based FPL Group Inc. Terms were not disclosed.

Strasser said prospects for the Creston project turn on several potential changes in the region’s energy balance, which some project will show a deficit within a decade.

The most radical shift would be driven by the proposed bypass of the four lower Snake River dams, which would eliminate 1,200 megawatts of power from the region’s pool.

Natural gas-fired turbines like those planned at Creston would be a good substitute for the lost hydropower, Strasser said.

The fate of the Centralia Generating Station is another question mark. The 1,340-megawatt plant requires expensive air pollution-control upgrades to meet future clean air standards.

The owners, including Avista Corp., are trying to sell the plant and adjacent mine.

And Bonneville soon will launch a subscription process that will reallocate its resources, mostly its inexpensive hydropower.

The plan may not give the region’s aluminum smelters all the electricity they need to operate, Strasser said.

“I think the timing is becoming very favorable,” he said. “We think the project will get built.”