NW power grid to get a closer look

The Northwest has transmission problems. At least the U.S. Department of Energy thinks so.

A draft National Energy Transmission Congestion Study released last week includes the Seattle-Portland corridor among four “Congestion Areas of Concern” for which more information and analysis is needed. New England, the San Francisco Bay area and the Phoenix-Tucson areas are in the same boat.

Grids in those areas are decidedly better off than the systems serving Southern California and the Atlantic Coastal area from New York to Northern Virginia, where transmission constraints are critical.

Montana and Wyoming could also be headed for trouble as potential coal- and wind-generation projects stress existing power lines.

The department released its findings one year after President Bush signed the National Energy Policy Act, legislation intended to fund research and clear the way for the development of more domestic energy resources, electricity among them. The bill set several agendas for the department; completion of a transmission study within one year was among them. That was pretty ambitious.

Still, Western Interstate Energy Board Executive Director Doug Larson gives the department good marks for working with the states, and taking a measured approach instead of jumping to more aggressive conclusions that could have precipitated some head-banging with the region’s governors.

The Western Governors’ Association in November expressed dismay over the potential for high-handed federal action. The Energy Act allows utilities unsuccessful in getting state permission to build new power lines to petition the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which could pre-empt state authority and allow construction.

Larson also praises the department for its willingness to consider alternatives to new wires, such as moving generating plants closer to the cities that need the juice. Transmission lines could become an issue for Montana and Wyoming, for example, only if utilities continue to shift away from increasingly expensive natural gas for new generation and turn to coal and wind. The two states have both resources in abundance, but they’re a long way from Los Angeles.

Larson notes the tight schedule for completing the study limited the ways DOE could measure congestion. The department relied mostly on how much and for how long segments of the Western grid were loaded to 75 percent or 90 percent of capacity. There are other yardsticks, he said, adding that a certain amount of art also figures in calculating transmission needs.

Larson says Western energy groups will meet this fall to draft comments on the DOE study, which is expected to be in its final form by year-end.

Meanwhile, Western utilities continue to reinforce a grid that stretches from Alberta and British Columbia to Mexico. They have invested $4 billion in new wire since the power supply crisis of 2000-2001 exposed weaknesses that contributed to record high prices. The grid stood up during July’s record heat, although equipment failures did create some limited outages.

In the Northwest, the Bonneville Power Administration has spent more than $1 billion on new lines and substations, including $100 million on a line from Grand Coulee to North Spokane. Individual utilities, including Avista, have also made significant investments.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council, which meets in Spokane today and tomorrow, will hear from a task force organized specifically to analyze what the heat wave showed officials about the system’s reliability.

The West learned some hard lessons five years ago, and has responded appropriately. Other regions have been schooled by blackouts and hurricanes. Although the Energy Act gives it the right to do so, hopefully the Department of Energy will be slow to intervene where utilities do not think state officials are responsive to requests for new transmission corridors.