Region's newest wind project adds to diversity of renewable energy
portfolio
PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) today announced its
Tucannon River Wind Farm is in service and available to generate power
for PGE customers. Tucannon River is PGE's second fully owned and
operated large-scale wind project, with 116 turbines and a total
installed capacity of 267 megawatts. Given the variability of wind
power, the plant is expected to produce an average of 101 megawatts -
enough to power the homes of about 84,000 average PGE residential
customers.
"Tucannon River Wind Farm is a key infrastructure investment that will
serve our customers with clean, renewable energy for decades to come,"
said Jim Piro, PGE president and CEO. "Tucannon River supports a
balanced, diverse energy portfolio for reliable, reasonably priced
power. The new wind farm will also help PGE meet Oregon's Renewable
Portfolio Standard, which requires us to supply 15 percent of the
electricity our customers use from qualified renewable resources by 2015
and 25 percent by 2025."
Tucannon River Wind Farm is located on 20,000 acres near Dayton, Wash.
The new wind farm complements PGE's existing portfolio of wind resources
located in Eastern and North-central Oregon: Biglow Canyon Wind Farm,
which is fully owned and operated by PGE, and power purchase agreements
for the output of the Klondike II and Vansycle Ridge wind farms. By
securing wind power from different geographic locations, PGE is able to
better integrate wind into the system because the facilities are less
likely to cycle up and down simultaneously.
In addition to providing carbon-free and emissions-free generation of
electric power, Tucannon River is providing economic support to the
region.
"The Tucannon River Wind Farm has been a great addition to Columbia
County and the Dayton community," said Mike Talbott, Columbia County
Chair. "The project brought hundreds of construction jobs to the region,
and now 18 permanent, family-wage positions to the Dayton community.
It's also bringing income to local businesses and increasing county tax
revenue. We're happy to have PGE in our community."
Tucannon River was built for PGE by general contractor and independent
renewable power developer Renewable Energy Systems Americas Construction
Inc. using wind turbines manufactured by Siemens, each with a nameplate
generating capacity of 2.3 megawatts. Power generated at Tucannon River
will be brought to PGE customers via a new interconnection at Central
Ferry Substation constructed by the Bonneville Power Administration. The
plant was completed on time and on budget under fixed-price contracts,
with final construction costs expected to be approximately $500 million,
excluding AFDC.
Completion of Tucannon River Wind Farm is a significant milestone in the
implementation of the action plan that came out of PGE's 2009 Integrated
Resource Plan. The plan was acknowledged by the Oregon Public Utility
Commission in November 2010. The requests for proposals used to select
the project were conducted pursuant to competitive bidding guidelines
established by the OPUC, using objective scoring criteria intended to
identify projects that provide the best balance of cost and risk while
meeting PGE customers' needs for reliable, affordable electric power.
Available resources for media:
About Portland General Electric Company
Portland General Electric, headquartered in Portland, Ore., is a fully
integrated electric utility that serves more than 843,000 residential,
commercial and industrial customers in Oregon. In 2014, PGE celebrated
125 years of powering Oregon. Visit our website at PortlandGeneral.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this news release that relate to future plans, objectives,
expectations, performance, events and the like may constitute
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements include statements
concerning the future performance of the Tucannon River Wind Farm and
other expected benefits of the project, as well as other statements
identified by words including, but not limited to, "will,"
"anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "promises,"
"expects," "should," "conditioned upon" and similar expressions.
Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties, including regulatory, operational
and legal matters, as well as other factors that could affect the
deployment and successful operation of turbines at the Tucannon River
Wind Farm project. As a result, actual results may differ materially
from those projected in the forward-looking statements. All
forward-looking statements included in this news release are based on
information available to the Company on the date hereof and such
statements speak only as of the date hereof. The Company assumes no
obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Prospective
investors should also review the risks and uncertainties listed in the
Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and the Company's
reports on Forms 8-K and 10-Q filed with the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission, including Management's Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operation and the risks described
therein from time to time.
POR-F
Source: Portland General Electric Company
PGE
Brianne Hyder, 503-464-8442
PortlandGeneral.com/Newsroom
Source: Portland General Electric Company
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