Portland General Electric Announces That Its Port Westward Plant Is Available For Commercial Generation
Portland, OR - Portland General Electric Company recently announced that its Port Westward Generating Plant, a new 400 megawatt natural gas-fired power plant located near Clatskanie, Ore., is available for commercial generation. The plant is owned and operated by PGE, and is the first major new generating plant placed into service by the company since 1995. It has the capacity to serve approximately 300,000 homes.
"Port Westward is an important resource that will help meet our customers' current and future energy needs," said Peggy Fowler, CEO and President of PGE. "We're extremely pleased to have brought it online, on-budget and just in time to help meet customer demand during the hot summer months."
Fowler noted that the project required close collaboration between PGE, Black & Veatch Construction, Inc., Mitsubishi Power Systems, Inc., and Oregon regulators. Black & Veatch served as general contractor for the project. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. manufactured and supervised installation of the plant's turbines.
Port Westward will help reduce PGE's dependence on power purchases in the wholesale energy market. The plant serves as an important component of the company's diversified portfolio of energy resources, complementing new wind generation that PGE expects to bring online later this year with completion of the first phase of its Biglow Canyon wind farm in Sherman County. The Port Westward plant's state-of-the-art G-class turbine makes it one of the most efficient combined-cycle natural gas-fired generating plants in the United States.
The plant was completed on budget under fixed-price contracts, with final construction costs expected to be between $280M and $290M. Certification of commercial availability came just one month later than the May 2007 date that was initially projected when contracts were signed and engineering work started in October 2004. The plant successfully completed all required performance and functional testing before PGE took possession.
Earlier this year, the Oregon Public Utility Commission approved a price increase of 2.8 percent, to take effect when Port Westward became fully operational. The increase covers capital and operating costs of the new plant. PGE has submitted a tariff filing with the OPUC requesting that the increase be effective June 15, 2007.
SOURCE: Portland General Electric Company