Hot topics

• Recovery

• Upper Great Plains Wind Energy Programmatic EIS

• Dakotas Wind Transmission Study final report

• Operation of Flaming Gorge Dam final EIS

• Solar Energy Development PEIS

• West-wide Energy Corridor PEIS

• Energy Policy Act of 2005

• OATT revision

Quick picks

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• 2008 Annual Report (2.1MB PDF)
• Crime Watch program
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Western team wins Science Bowl

Straight from the Sacramento Regional Science Bowl High school Mira Loma High School from Sacramento beat Lexington High School from Lexington, Massachusetts in the high school national championship match at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

DOE's full news release details the winning prize and the other top placing teams. Photos of the winning teams, biographical information about the teams and more information about the DOE National Science Bowl are available on the National Science Bowl Web site.

Western's FY 2008 Annual Report available

Hour by hour, Western employees keep a watchful eye on the ever-changing energy demands and do their part to support the energy industry. As the seconds, minutes and hours tick by, their individual perspectives make up the powerful way Western delivers Federal hydroelectric power to our customers, who in turn keep the lights on in millions of homes throughout the West.

Read the report to catch up on our financials and to see how Western employees worked together to deliver our peak load—6,476 megawatts—on July 31, 2008, to meet consumers' power needs.

Western and the Transmission Agency of Northern California have heard your requests for more time to submit scoping comments on the preliminary proposed TTP study areas (2.3 MB pdf). As a result, we have chosen to formally extend the public comment period for the TTP Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement scoping process by an additional 31 days. EIR/EIS scoping comments (176 kb pdf) are now accepted through May 31, 2009.

Just less than two months after the President signed the Recovery Act, Western and the Secretary of Treasury have a borrowing arrangement in place to fund projects that will be selected under the upcoming Transmission Infrastructure Program. Read the news release.

Federal agencies interested in managing their energy costs, improving the environment and increasing national energy security are invited to join the 2009 renewable energy certificate solicitation being issued by Western Area Power Administration and the Federal Energy Management Program. Statements of Intent are due by April 30.  Learn more about this service on our Renewable Resources for Federal Agencies Web site.

Public meeting on Transmission Infrastructure Program

Check out the TIP line blog for responses to some of the questions and comments from the Mar. 23 public meeting.

Western proposes transmission program, seeks projects

On March 4, Western announced in the Federal Register the availability of a Request for Interest seeking interest in potential projects that can be funded using the Recovery Act authority to borrow up to $3.25 billion from the U.S. Treasury. These projects will provide Federal funding in partnerships to develop transmission infrastructure that delivers renewable energy to market across the West. To be assured consideration, all Statements of Interest should be submitted in a non-confidential manner and received by Western on April 3, 2009.

Western also published a Federal Register notice initiating a public process to develop policies and practices to guide the new Transmission Infrastructure Program as it implements the new authority.

See our Recovery page for more information on how Western is implementing the Recovery Act.

Section 402 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed by the President on Feb. 17, will promote construction of additional transmission to move renewable energy across the grid in the West.

The Act grants Western Area Power Administration the authority to borrow up to $3.25 billion from the U.S. Treasury. Western now has a mechanism to provide Federal funding in partnerships to develop transmission infrastructure that delivers renewable energy to market. Visit our Newsroom for more information on the new authority.

Western crews helping restore Missouri power

In the wake of the severe January ice storm that pummeled Arkansas and Missouri, three Western crews are onsite to help Southwestern Power Administration and local utilities repair more than 300 damaged structures near New Madrid, Mo.

Currently, Western crews are helping Southwestern repair three 69-kV lines, including:

• Malden to Piggot
• Kennett to Piggot
• New Madrid to Malden

See Southwestern’s current press release (PDF) for details. Southwestern will continue to provide updates on its restoration efforts by e-mail and at http://www.swpa.gov as they become available.

Western announces new Desert Southwest regional manager

Administrator Tim Meeks announced today his selection of Darrick Moe as the new Desert Southwest regional manager for Western Area Power Administration. Moe will start his appointment as manager of DSW—one of Western’s four regions—on Jan. 4. Read the news release or see Moe’s bio for more information.

Western has released the draft of the Wind and Hydropower Feasibility Study. The study was mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to determine the cost and feasibility of developing a demonstration project that uses wind energy generated on Indian tribal lands to supply firming power to Western, supplementing Federal hydropower generated on the Missouri river to meet Western’s contractual obligations. Comments will be accepted until Feb. 13.

Request for Interest for the Purchase of Renewable Energy Products

Western seeks interest from any supplier regarding the long-term purchase of renewable energy to supplement any one or more of, or possibly combinations of, four regions. The request for interest states all available points of delivery are located within the Western Interconnection. The Upper Great Plains Region is not seeking energy delivered within the Eastern Interconnection at this time. Western prefers renewable energy with RECs, but will entertain offsets on price for renewable energy without RECs. Delivery points and approximate amounts of energy desired for each region are listed in the RFI.

Western and Basin Electric Power Cooperative, a UGP customer, agreed Nov. 19 to a precedent-setting purchase of wind power between the two organizations—just one more way the two utilities are showing their commitment to renewable energy in the West.

The three-year contract provides for Western to purchase the output from an existing 50-megawatt wind farm. The purchase of wind energy, capacity and renewable attributes from Basin Electric’s existing wind generation will help Western offset the effects of prolonged drought in the Missouri River Basin, the area from which both organizations market and deliver power. The short-term contract is effective from Jan. 1, 2010, until Dec. 31, 2012. Renewable attributes refer to the intangible environmental benefits associated with the generation of one megawatt-hour of electric energy by a renewable resource.

In late August 2008, the Wyoming-Colorado Intertie project announced the successful results of its open season capacity auction for firm transmission rights for a proposed, new 345-kV line that would link the Front Range of Colorado with the wind-rich high plains of eastern Wyoming. The remaining unsold capacity, 265 MW, is now being made available on an application basis in conformity with the WCI Open Access Transmission Tariff that is posted on the WCI website.

To help address a growing number of proposed wind energy projects in the Upper Great Plains, Western and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to evaluate the environmental, social and economic impacts of wind energy development in Western's Upper Great Plains Region and on the Service's grassland and wetland easements in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. Public scoping meetings are set for Sept. 30 in Sioux Falls, S.D.; Oct. 1 in Bismarck, N.D.; and Oct. 2 in Billings, Mont.