Calpine moves ahead with gas-fired generator in south Goldendale

The concrete that will support the gas turbine has been poured. The rebar grid that will hold the boiler is in place. And construction of a new 248-MW, $ 135 mm natural gas-fired generator is moving ahead on schedule in this Klickitat County town.
But it's not yet clear whether any of the power the plant generates when it begins operating in July 2002 will go to the shuttered Goldendale Aluminium smelter, which sits 17 miles away by road on the Columbia River. Calpine of San Jose, California, broke ground on the plant in south Goldendale on April 24. With 50 generating plants in operation and another 30 in the proposal and permitting phase, Calpine is the largest energy developer in North America.

The project initially was proposed by National Energy Systems Co. (NESCO) of Kirkland, which planned to dedicate a portion of the power generated to the Goldendale Aluminum smelter. To help the plant become energy self-sufficient and cope with the Northwest power shortage, Goldendale annexed land for the plant and issued a finding that it would have no significant environmental impact, which allowed the project to go forward.
That finding has been challenged by Portland Audubon, Columbia Gorge Audubon and Friends of the Columbia Gorge in a case that is before the Yakima County Superior Court. The conservation groups argue that the city failed to study the plant's effect on nearby water supplies and its cumulative impact on air quality in the gorge.
The challenge is one of several that conservationists have filed recently against proposed new energy facilities as Klickitat County has become a magnet for energy development. In April, NESCO sold its development rights to Calpine, citing the volatile energy market and financing uncertainties raised by the legal challenge.

Calpine spokesman Kent Robertson said that the company is continuing discussions with Brett Wilcox, president of Golden Northwest Aluminum, which owns the Goldendale smelter and another one at The Dalles, Oregon. "Calpine's corporate strategy is to commit two-thirds to three- quarters of the power we generate under long-term contracts," Robertson said. "To the greatest extent possible, we try to commit to customers who are close to our facilities." Besides the aluminium smelters, there are also municipal utility districts and the BPA. "There are a bunch of potential wholesale customers out here," Robertson said.
Already, the plant is providing a boost to the local economy. A construction crew of 70 to 80 is working to meet the plant's completion deadline, and up to 300 workers may eventually be employed in the construction phase. Between 20 % and 30 % of those workers will be from the local area, said project manager Robert Moorer.
When the project is operating, it will employ a staff of 20 and contribute an estimated payroll of $ 1 mm to the local economy. In addition, the plant itself will be taxed. That means additional revenue for the city, the county, schools, hospitals, libraries and parks, Robertson said.

Wilcox, meanwhile, is moving ahead with the first part of a three-pronged strategy to make his smelters energy self-sufficient by 2006. He has applied to Klickitat County for a permit to build a 225-MW gas-fired plant at the Goldendale smelter site next to John Day Dam.
Columbia Riverkeeper, an environmental group, has appealed the county's determination that the project will have no significant impact. Brent Foster, attorney for the group, said the county failed to consider the impact on the Columbia River that would result from withdrawing 500 gallons of water per minute from the river to cool the plant and returning warm water to the river.
"The Columbia is already way too hot," he said. "We know salmon are adversely affected by hot water." Wilcox has started the permitting process for a 520-MW natural gas-fired plant in Clatskanie, Oregon. He hopes to have it operating by the fall of 2003. In addition, he has leased several parcels in eastern Klickitat County with plans for a series of wind farms.

With a 150-foot-tall exhaust stack and an 80-foot boiler, the Goldendale plant will announce itself on the landscape, rivalling the grain elevators at the north end of town. Moorer said Calpine, like NESCO before it, is committed to meeting the most stringent air emission standards. Natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel, but its combustion still releases nitrogen oxides and contributes carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere.
The plant will use a General Electric combined-cycle combustion turbine, so named because it includes both a natural gas cycle and a steam cycle. The gas turbine, essentially a modified jet airplane engine, burns natural gas. Hot exhaust from the gas turbine is captured in a heat recovery boiler to provide steam to a separate steam turbine, which provides additional power generation.
The turbine, similar to the Clark Public Utilities gas-fired turbine at the River Road Generating Plant, is being built in another state and is scheduled to arrive in Goldendale in July. Crews at the site will assemble it.
Moorer said the plant will make efficient use of water. The water used for cooling and steam generation will be recycled through the turbines and boilers in closed-loop systems. Two water storage tanks will hold about 2.2 mm gallons each; a smaller tank will hold demineralised water that has been treated to protect equipment.

Calpine will install pipes connecting the plant to the Williams Northwest natural gas pipeline, which is about two miles south of the Goldendale site. That work is expected to begin in mid-July. In recognition of the energy rush that is under way in south-eastern Washington, Williams Gas Pipelines West announced that it will boost power to its compressors at Goldendale, Willard and Roosevelt near the Columbia River Gorge to accommodate increased demand as new natural gas turbines come on line.