EWEB to buy more wind power.Byline: The Register-Guard The Eugene Water & Electric Board's elected commissioners have given the green light for the utility to buy 25 megawatts of wind power from PPM Energy, which plans to build the Klondike III wind farm in Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is a geographical term that is generally taken to mean the area of the state of Oregon east of the Cascade Range, save the region around The Dalles and sometimes Klamath County. The area around Bend is considered to be Central Oregon rather than Eastern Oregon. by January 2008. The purchase agreement would double EWEB's share of nonhydroelectric renewable energy Renewable energy utilizes natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. Renewable energy technologies range from solar power, wind power, and hydroelectricity to biomass and biofuels for transportation. and would meet the annual needs of about 5,000 single-family homes. EWEB EWEB Eugene Water and Electric Board (Oregon) co-owns a wind farm in Wyoming and buys wind power from the Stateline wind project The Stateline Wind Project () is a wind farm located on Vansycle Ridge, which receives 16 to 18 mph average wind speeds from the Columbia Gorge, on the border between Washington and Oregon in the United States. near Walla Walla Walla Walla (wŏl`ə wŏl`ə), city (1990 pop. 26,478), seat of Walla Walla co., SE Wash., at the junction of the Walla Walla River and Mill Creek, near the Oregon line; inc. 1862. , Wash. PPM has received approval from the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council to build the wind farm next to the existing Klondike I and II wind farms east of Wasco in Sherman County Sherman County is the name of four counties in the United States:
EWEB is also hoping to buy up to 15 megawatts of geothermal power from the proposed Raft River project being built by U.S. Geothermal about 40 miles southeast of Burley, Idaho. The extra megawatts from that project, to be completed in 2009, could provide enough energy to power an additional 8,000 homes, EWEB says. In all, the new wind and geothermal power purchases would increase EWEB's "portfolio" of nonhydroelectric renewable power to more than 10 percent of the utility's overall energy needs. Earlier this year, EWEB commissioners approved additional funding for renewable power projects as part of an overall rate increase that went into effect in May. About 1 percent of customers' rates are used to acquire electricity generated from renewable sources, either through purchase agreements or new construction, EWEB says. |
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