PUD: $40 million power project not expected to hit ratepayers' wallets
The Headquarters Landfill gas project a small, but good step toward fighting climate change
A $40 million project to produce power from waste gas at the Cowlitz County Headquarters Landfill is not expected to lead to rate increases, according to the Cowlitz PUD, the project’s co-sponsor.
That’s because the project will be paid for through a combination of state climate change funds, county money and federal tax credits, PUD spokeswoman Alice Dietz told me by email.
The PUD “does not anticipate a rate impact from constructing the landfill gas project,” Dietz said.
The utility announced the project on May 9, but significant questions remained unanswered then, including its impact on PUD customer rates. I promised to get back to readers when I received answers to them.
According to the PUD release, Cowlitz County now captures methane — a byproduct of decaying waste that is a potent and flammable greenhouse gas— and burns it off in a flare system. This process reduces emissions, but the heat produced is wasted in the atmosphere.
The joint venture will burn the gas in six internal combustion turbines to create 8.6 megawatts of reliable and renewable electricity, according to the PUD. That’s enough for 4,500 homes, the utility estimates.
Some other new details from Dietz’s email:
When completed, the project will provide the equivalent of about 1% of the utility’s needs. For now, that energy will be surplus, but it will serve “future load growth and offset future decreases in non-renewable (electrical) resources,” Dietz said.
All turbines will be equipped with silencers to reduce noise. The design now calls for a single 100-foot-tall stack to vent combustion gases. Emissions will likely be invisible — except for steam, depending on weather conditions.
Construction is projected to begin early next year, and the project is scheduled to go online in early 2026. No contractor has been selected.
The PUD has begun the environmental review with the state Department of Ecology and Southwest Washington Clean Air Agency, which have oversight. The Cowlitz Indian Tribe also is involved in the review.
Any new power line construction at the landfill will take place underground. Off the site, power will be distributed through the PUD’s existing electrical transmission corridors.
The project is aimed at complying with the Clean Energy Transformation Act, Climate Commitment Act, and the Energy Independence Act (Initiative 937).
Admittedly, this project is small piece of what it will take to ward off the worst effects of climate change. And its cost is high by comparison with solar and other renewables. Dietz points out, however, that the new power plant “will generate at or near capacity around the clock, whereas solar generation … tends to drop off in the evenings just prior to peak evening demand.”
“This project is intended to make beneficial use of the methane that is currently being captured and flared at the Headquarters Landfill and, in this way, supports current climate change initiatives while also providing an incremental energy source to the (PUD’s) portfolio,” Dietz said by email.
Good for the PUD and the county for taking climate threats seriously — unlike Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former president Donald Trump and other climate change deniers.
DeSantis recently signed a bill that deletes most mentions of climate change from state law. And there’s Donald Trump and his mania to “drill, drill drill” — even though America is producing record amounts of crude oil and has led the world in oil production for at least six years running, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.
The effects of a warming climate are easy for anyone to see in the rising occurrence of catastrophic tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, floods and breakup of immense glaciers.
The Guardian reported on a study earlier this month that economic damage caused by climate change will be six times worse than previously thought. Disasters related to global heating will shrink wealth as much as a continuing, permanent war, according to researchers at Harvard and Northwestern University.
People who think the costs of dodging climate change are too high to accept are deluding themselves. The truth is this: We can’t afford NOT to take action.
The PUD’s project is a small step, but it’s a good one.
Progress is progress. That’s good for all of us.
Our PUD rates have not changed in 7 years and for that we can be most thankful. I recently spent several days with a friend who’s a PGE customer (Sandy, OR). Our electric rate here is 7¢ per kWh, his is 42¢ average with variations for peak/off peak and seasonal usage. He lives alone, closes off most of his house and runs heat as little as possible, air conditioning in one room. PGE has proposed another rate increase.