Avista Has Plan To Boost Power Output Oregon Project Will Suspend Expansion Of Rathdrum Plant

Transfer of a proposed turbine generator project between two Avista Corp. subsidiaries best solves the area’s need for more electricity, the company said Monday.

Avista Utilities will take possession of the Coyote Springs 2 plant in Boardman, Ore. from Avista Power, which purchased the rights to the project in July, said Bob Lafferty, manager of Electrical Resources.

Construction will begin in January, he said, with completion expected in June 2002.

Selection of Coyote Springs 2 sets aside, at least for the foreseeable future, the potential expansion of Avista Utilities’ Rathdrum Power Plant.

Nearby residents voiced concerns about that proposal during informal meetings with company officials two weeks ago.

“It doesn’t fit the best right now,” Lafferty said.

The process that led to the selection of Coyote Springs 2 began in August, when Avista Utilities solicited plans that would enable the company to add 300 megawatts to its resource base.

One megawatt will sustain 600 homes.

Lafferty said Avista Utilities received 32 responses from 23 bidders offering a total 4,400 megawatts of electricity. The proposals included new generation, renewable resources and energy efficiency measures, he said.

Avista Utilities compared those bids to in-house projects as well as those being developed by other Avista subsidiaries, he said.

“It was a very good process,” Lafferty said. “The number of bids we got back gave us a very good indication of the market.”

Coyote Springs 2 best meets Avista Utilities needs, he said.

Portland General Electric operates the adjacent Coyote 1 plant, completed in 1995. PGE and Enron North America were the sellers of the Coyote Springs 2 project.

Lafferty said the Oregon plant’s combined-cycle turbine can generate 280 megawatts, or an average of about 230 megawatts taking into account maintenance down time.

Combined-cycle turbines incorporate turbine and steam generators, which increases efficiency.

Much of the Coyote Springs 2 energy will replace megawatts Avista Utilities now buys from the Centralia Power Plant in Western Washington, he said.

That contract for 200 megawatts expires at the end of 2003.

Lafferty said Avista Utilities is also negotiating with three bidders for a total of 19 megawatts of electricity that would be obtained by, for example, increasing tuning up commercial light and heating systems in the area.

He said Idaho and Washington utility regulators were kept informed of the selection process. But neither commission will decide whether Avista Utilities customers should pay for Coyote Springs 2 until the plant is ready to deliver electricity, he said.

Terms of the July sale to Avista Power were not disclosed.

Lafferty said the transfer between the two subsidiaries would be done at cost.

Avista Utilities, he said, hired a contractor to do an independent analysis of the various proposals.