Congressman Jay Inslee didn’t get the nod for interior secretary this week, but that’s OK. The Northwest sure could use him in Congress when it comes time to craft a federal infrastructure package.
The lawmaker from Bainbridge Island is one of the chief champions of expanding the Northwest power transmission system. His advocacy of clean, renewable energy could help the Northwest nab stimulus dollars to fund the modern-day equivalent of the New Deal-era hydroelectric dams.
Inslee and others want to use this region to demonstrate how to bring the nation’s electrical distribution into the 21st century by connecting remote power generation to population centers.
The existing power grid has served the region well for decades, but increased demand and development of wind power has the system stretched to its limits.
Developers of wind power have flocked to eastern Washington and Oregon not just for the gusty weather. Power-generating dams nearby ensure an abundance of high-voltage transmission lines; they also can ramp up quickly when the wind doesn’t show.
But the more wind power the region adds, the harder it is for transmission managers to balance the hydro-wind mix and the more bottlenecks crop up on the grid.
A study by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and the Bonneville Power Administration last year found that the region’s existing power system can most likely accommodate 6,000 megawatts of wind power – provided there are additional investments in high-voltage transmission lines. The Bonneville Power Administration figures it needs to string 600 additional miles of transmission line at a cost of $1.5 billion.
Counting the wind projects in operation and under construction, the Northwest is already halfway to its 6,000-megawatt buildout. And interest in wind power and other green energy will only grow as state mandates in Washington, Oregon, California and elsewhere require utilities to buy a bigger portion of their power supply from renewable sources.
Without increased capacity, the Northwest’s power grid could bog down under the strain of hosting sporadic loads of wind-power electrons – power that is being produced so that utilities elsewhere can buy renewable energy credits.
Building the next-generation green grid is part and parcel of weaning the country from its dependence on foreign oil and combating global warming. In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration helped electrify the West by building the 20th-century form of renewable energy. The federal government can help make this region again a model for energy independence.
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