Energy Northwest Prepares for Permit Extension on 41-Year Old 27-Megawatt Hydroelectric Plant

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Energy Northwest (Richland, Washington), a joint operating agency (JOA) consisting of nineteen utilities, has been working on the license renewal for the 27-megawatt (MW) Packwood Lake Hydroelectric Plant (Lewis County, near Packwood, Washington) project since the fall of 2003. The original license was issued in July 1960. Construction of Packwood started in the spring of 1962, and the plant commenced commercial operation in June 1964, at a cost of $12.7 million.

Energy Northwest plans on completing environmental studies and submitting applications to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the renewal of Project No. 2244 by August 2008, for renewal by February 28, 2010. Energy Northwest is planning no major modifications for the powerhouse itself, but there will be several upgrades to support surrounding ecological systems.

Packwood Lake Project has one Allis Chalmers vertical pelton wheel turbine driving a 27 MW Allis Chalmers generator. The project was originally built with the assistance of R.W Beck Incorporated (Seattle, Washington). The power plant is controlled by a SCADA system and has a staff of two. Packwood Lake normally has one outage a year for maintenance. The company typically utilizes employees who work at the 1,100 MW Columbia Nuclear Generating Station in Richland, Washington, to perform maintenance work.

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