Rentals help SUB meet power demand By LANCE ROBERTSON The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - The clatter of 18 diesel generators just east of downtown is the sound of money to the Springfield Utility Board.

Or, more accurately, the sound of money being saved.

Since they were cranked up in late March, the rented generators have been producing about 25 megawatts of electricity the utility is using to nearly eliminate its need to buy expensive power on the open market.

The generators are "working exactly the way we expected them to," SUB spokeswoman Mary Ann Rhodes said.

Sandi Weston of the Springfield Utility Board walks in front of several of the 18 diesel generators that are online and providing electricity.

Mechanic Jim Marquardt monitors the gauges in one of the generators that the Springfield Utility Board is renting to help meet energy demands.

Photos: BRIAN DAVIES / The Register-Guard

SUB had never generated any of its own electricity until the generators came online.

They can produce about one-quarter of the city's average daily energy needs.

Utility officials decided in February to take the unprecedented step of renting the generators for a six-month period ending Oct. 1, when SUB's new power supply contract with the federal Bonneville Power Administration takes effect.

Utility officials said it could save $10 million to $20 million in higher electricity costs over the six-month period by renting the generators and producing the power themselves.

That's because the spot market price of electricity is about $300 per megawatt-hour and the generators can be run at less than half that cost.

A drought, population growth, California's botched deregulation effort and other factors have combined to drive wholesale electricity prices to unheard-of levels.

SUB is spending about $6.8 million renting and operating the diesel generators, far less than the $17 million or more it would cost to buy the same amount of power on the open market.

Rhodes said the generators are producing power for about $140 per megawatt hour, "which in the old days was an awful lot of money. Today, that's a bargain."

The utility was granted an emergency air emissions permit and is working with the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority to get a permit to run the generators through September.

The generators are expected to emit more than 1,000 tons of pollutants, mostly nitrogen oxides.

Springfield is one of several utilities and factories in the Northwest to start up diesel generators.

Public utilities in Seattle, Tacoma and Clark County in Washington are turning to diesel generators, as is a Georgia-Pacific plant north of Everett.

SUB has signed a deal with the Eugene-based Caterpillar equipment arm of The Pape Group to rent and operate the generators.

The agreement calls for SUB to pay Pape $496,000 per month for the generators, plus $41,400 per month for transformers and $54,000 a month for maintenance and operation

http://www.registerguard.com/news/20010414/1b.cr.dieselgenerators.0414.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 15, 2001