Distributed Generation May Be Salmon Savior
Staff -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 6/1/2001
As many as 250 diesel generators were acquired by businesses in Washington state last winter as power rates rose due to the California energy crisis, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. "The pressure of skyrocketing spot prices for electricity isn't the only consideration to be balanced against the pollution impact of diesel-produced power," the paper reports. "With water behind the Pacific Northwest's hydroelectric dams at critically low levels, the use of diesel may benefit the region's endangered salmon runs even as it thickens the air."
A Tacoma Power official noted that the company was purchasing power "on the open market for between $450 and $600 per megawatt-hour [mWh]." The $19 million the company spent on 32 diesel generators was expected to produce power at $150 per mWh—saving the company $500,000 a day.
From Pure Power, Summer 2001.
