The Bonneville Power Administration successfully added a third substation in as many years to accommodate the rapid continued development of new wind power projects in eastern Washington and Oregon. Overall, nine wind power projects have been connected to the regional grid operated by BPA in just eight years’ time.

Substations are critical parts of the transmission system infrastructure because they interconnect generation sources with the regional grid. The completion of the Jones Canyon Substation near Arlington, Oregon, which became fully operational at the end of July, is one of three substations added in the past three years to handle 550 MW capacity of wind projects planned for 2007.

The first of these wind power projects to be routed through the Jones Canyon Substation is PacifiCorp’s 100.5 MW Leaning Juniper Wind Farm, which is scheduled for completion in mid-August and will be capable of producing enough wind energy to power about 30,000 homes. The new 230-kV Jones Canyon Substation will deliver power into the BPA McNary-Santiam 230-kV transmission line. The Jones Canyon substation has the capacity to receive power from two more large wind projects anticipated in the next two years. Other new substations are being planned nearby for 2007 to connect another 1,000 MW of additional wind generation also expected within the next two years.

“The strong attention to renewable energy and interest from utility consumers is making wind generation the fastest-growing source of new generation in our region,” Elliot Mainzer, BPA’s manager of customer service planning and engineering said. “We are pleased to play a key role in bringing electricity from these resources to Northwest consumers and plan to work closely with utilities and wind developers in the years ahead to ensure the region can accommodate the growth in wind generation in a cost-effective manner.”

BPA and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council are teaming up with other utilities and interested stakeholders in the coming months to address the operational challenges associated with the region’s growing number of wind projects.

“With more than 1000 MW of additional wind energy expected in the next few years, it will be important to work out the details ahead of time about how the region can best manage the variable nature of wind power so the advantages of these new resources can be maximized,” Mainzer said.

Wind energy projects are picking up speed in other parts of the country as well. President Bush recently outlined the Advanced Energy Initiative to help break America's dependence on foreign sources of energy, including $44 million for wind energy research – a $5 million increase over fiscal year 2006 levels. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that with ongoing efforts to expand access to federal lands for wind energy development, this new funding will help dramatically increase the use of wind energy in the United States.

Following are the wind projects BPA has interconnected over the past eight years.

1) Vansycle Ridge energized June 1998
2) Stateline energized October 2001
3) Condon energized December 2001
4) Klondike I energized December 2001
5) Nine Canyon energized June 2002
6) Klondike II energized July 2005
7) Hopkins Ridge energized September 2005
8) Big Horn energized in July 2006
9) Leaning Juniper energized July 2006