by
Rachel Hansen | Feb 07, 2023
Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and Chelan County Public Utility District (PUD) today executed a contract for renewable hydropower from the PUD’s two projects on the Columbia River. The 20-year contract increases Puget’s carbon-free resources toward its future renewable energy goals, as well as contributes flexible capacity to identified needs in Washington.
The competitively priced contract provides Puget Sound Energy with 25% of the output from the PUD’s Rock Island and Rocky Reach hydropower projects from 2031 to 2051. PSE’s current contracts with Chelan PUD, expiring in 2026 and 2031, provide a portion of the output from the two Columbia River projects.
“We have 70 years of partnership selling a share of our hydropower output to Puget Sound Energy,” said PUD General Manager Kirk Hudson. “Along the way, these energy contracts become even better for our customer-owners by recognizing the increasing value of hydropower, while providing financial stability and predictability.”
Chelan PUD offers a mix of short-term market-based and long-term cost-based products. Both types of contracts are based on selling a “slice” of Chelan’s hydropower output. The value of hydropower has increased as a carbon-free renewable source of energy. Those environmental attributes are in demand as companies look to satisfy new regulatory requirements through the Climate Commitment Act and Clean Energy Transformation Act.
“We are pleased to continue our partnership with Chelan PUD to provide clean, reliable and affordable hydropower to our customers,” said Ron Roberts, PSE’s vice president of energy supply. “It’s another important step on our way to serving customers with 100% carbon neutral resources by 2030 and 100% clean electricity by 2045. In addition to clean energy and capacity, PSE’s 25% share will continue to provide a reliable source of resource adequacy and the ability to integrate renewable resources for our customers.”
The contract was negotiated over the past 18 months and includes both carbon-free energy attributes provided by hydropower as well as flexible capacity to help PSE meet peak energy needs during high customer usage times.
“We build a diverse portfolio by offering a mix of different contracts in order to reduce risk, create value, and provide financial stability for decades to come,” said Chief Financial Officer Kelly Boyd. “That balance allows Chelan PUD to support stable and predictable rates for customer-owners, as well as support for parks and broadband services.”
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About Chelan PUD
Chelan Public Utility District was created by a vote of the people in 1936 and delivered its first power in 1947. The PUD is governed by a locally elected five-member Board of Commissioners. The general manager uses the policies and guiding principles set by the commission to generate and deliver electricity from our three dams to utilities that serve customers across the Pacific Northwest as well as to more than 51,000 retail customers in the county. The PUD also provides water, sewer and wholesale telecommunications services.
About Puget Sound Energy
Puget Sound Energy is proud to serve our neighbors and communities in 10 Washington counties. We’re the state’s largest utility, supporting approximately 1.2 million electric customers and 900,000 natural gas customers. We aspire to be a beyond net zero carbon energy company by 2045.
For more about us and what we do, visit pse.com. Also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
For more information, press only:
Neil Neroutsos, Chelan County PUD, (509) 661-8291, neil.neroutsos@chelanpud.org
Andrew Padula, Puget Sound Energy, 888-831-7250, psenewsroom@pse.com