LADWP Increases Supply Of Clean Energy For Angelenos By 50 Megawatts

Los Angeles, CA - As part of its commitment to supply 20 percent of its retail energy from renewable energy sources by 2010, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LA Water & Power) Board of Water and Power Commissioners has approved an agreement to purchase 50 megawatts of renewable energy annually for a five-year period. This power purchase agreement will enable Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to meet an additional 2% of his annual Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) acquisition goal.

The agreement between LA Water & Power and Powerex Corp. (Powerex) provides for the purchase of 438,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy annually, enough power to serve approximately 70,000 homes each year. During the first year, LA Water & Power will purchase renewable energy from several small hydro-electric generating facilities in the Pacific Northwest. Over subsequent years LA Water & Power may receive other types of renewable energy — including small hydro, biomass, landfill gas and wind — through the agreement from generating facilities located in the Pacific Northwest.

The purchase agreement, which requires approval by the Los Angeles City Council, indicates that LA Water & Power expects to pay approximately $75 per megawatt-hour (MWh), for an annualized cost not to exceed $39 M in fiscal years 2006-07 through 2011-12. Under the agreement, the renewable energy will be delivered to LA Water & Power at the Nevada-Oregon border and shipped to Los Angeles via the Pacific DC Intertie — a north-south transmission line with capacity owned by LA Water & Power — so that no additional transmission infrastructure or transportation will need to be built.

The power purchase agreement between LA Water & Power and PPM Energy, Inc. (PPM), providing for the purchase of 82 megawatts — or 234,000 MWh — of wind power annually, received approval from the City Council on August 15. Under that agreement, which went into effect September 1, LA Water & Power will purchase the wind power from the Pleasant Valley Wind Energy Center, located in Uinta County, Wyo. LA Water & Power has agreed to pay a fixed amount of $63 per MWh for a 16-year period. LA Water & Power estimates that the energy delivered through the PPM contract will cost between $236 million and $280 million.

LA Water & Power officials said the Powerex and PPM agreements increase the agency's renewable energy to more than 8% of its energy supply portfolio. Other renewable energy projects already in the works are the 120-megawatt Pine Tree Wind Project located in the Tehachapi area, and the Green Path transmission system, a system of transmission projects designed to gain access to geothermal and solar resources located in the Salton Sea area, northeast of San Diego.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Board of Water and Power Commissioners