Business in brief: Avista resumes upgrades to lines on Palouse

Avista Corp. has resumed construction of an electric transmission system upgrade on the Washington and Idaho Palouse, the Spokane-based company announced this week.

This is the final phase of a five-year project designed to improve reliability and accommodate growth.

The company plans to reconstruct electric transmission lines between Benewah, Latah and Tekoa substations starting this month, with completion in September. Avista also plans to build a new transmission line along the Spokane-Whitman County line, the company said in a news release.

As many Palouse area customers will be fed from a single transmission line during the reconstruction period, the company warned that storms or other unplanned events could cause outages.

Avista, Kootenai Electric Cooperative, and Inland Power and Light customers along state Highway 27 from Mica to Palouse, Wash., and the town of Potlatch, Idaho, could be affected by outages, the release said.

Potlatch completes sale of Boardman tree farm

Potlatch Corp. has completed the $65 million sale of its hybrid poplar tree farm near Boardman, Ore., to a private equity fund.

The 17,000-acre farm was purchased by GreenWood Tree Farm Fund L.P., officials representing the fund said Wednesday.

The Collins Companies, of Portland, will build and manage a $35 million sawmill to process logs from the tree farm on the fund’s behalf.

The mill is scheduled to open in the spring of 2008. About 150 people will work at the mill and the tree farm operation.

Logs produced at the Boardman tree farm are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which means they were grown in an environmentally friendly matter. GreenWood was organized to buy tree farms in North America and sell FSC-certified wood products.

GreenWood Tree Farm Fund is managed by GreenWood Resources, of Portland; International Forestry Investment Advisors LLC, of Cambridge, Mass.; and Malkin & Co., of New York.

Seattle

Seattle to buy buses with hybrid engines

King County will buy up to 500 articulated buses from New Flyer Industries with most of the buses to be powered by hybrid engines, the county announced Wednesday.

The five-year contract could be worth as much as $400 million, General Motors Corp. said in a news release.

GM supplies Winnipeg, Manitoba-based New Flyer with the hybrid system for the buses.