New Technology

The Energy Storage Device (ESD) technical booklet is an introduction to electrical energy storage and user guide that soon will be available from the Power Quality Service Center, Portland, Oregon (http://www.pqsc.org/). The booklet will assist potential users to consider existing storage products and incorporate them into their businesses. The booklet provides a comparison of energy storage technologies using information from suppliers, vendors, and developers. It presents background, methods, and applications as applied to users of power, typically in the range of 50 kilowatts to more than 1 megawatt.

Energy storage is the conversion of electrical energy from a power network into a form in which it can be stored until converted back to electrical energy. Energy storage application areas can be short- or long-term. Many dips or interruptions are only seconds in duration and it is common to use energy storage devices such as flywheels or batteries for these short-term events. Batteries and flywheels are commercially available, although other devices that are not as readily available such as supercapacitors and superconductor magnetic storage also are described in the booklet.

Long-term applications known as energy management applications are concerned with demand reduction. Reducing demand on the system can bring substantial reductions in cost. This can be termed load leveling or peak shaving.

Within the transmission and distribution sectors, energy storage devices can be used to defer or avoid investment in new, expensive capital items such as transformers, lines, and cables. Most storage plants can be used to provide real or reactive power, so storage can be a useful means of providing voltage support on long lines. Capacitors can be installed on transmission lines to correct power factor problems.

Established energy storage technologies are technically mature and commercially available. For example, pumped hydro and compressed air energy storage and flywheels, electromechanical devices and batteries, i.e., lead acid batteries and nickel cadmium batteries. Emerging technologies include supercapacitors and superconducting magnetic energy storage.

-- Nelly Leap (503) 230-5761

Midstate Electric has always been proud of the fact that they are locally owned by their member/customers. This has meant local control, local jobs and personal, friendly service. And, it has always meant keeping more of the dollars right in their own community.

When Midstate started construction of their new headquarters facility, they were committed to hiring as many local people, subcontractors and businesses as they could. Built to Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) standards, the facility is a showcase of energy efficiency, environmental design and state-of-the-art construction standards. Midstate was sensitive to the strict standards required to build a LEED building and were concerned that local contractors might not want or be able to qualify to work on the project. They were pleasantly surprised.

More than 200 workers and more than 50 different companies and subcontractors have worked on the site since its beginning. Jeff Deswert, Project Superintendent for R&H Construction, their general contractor said, "The crews were impressed with the strong recycling standards and efforts at the site. Almost every worker commented on how safe and clean the construction site was. They appreciated the efforts to keep the work area and neighborhood environmentally clean. It's the cleanest construction site I've ever seen."

Nearly 40 local Central Oregon firms were used on the project and all but two of the vendors, suppliers, contractors and subcontractors were from Oregon. In addition to the millions of dollars spent locally on the project, those businesses and workers were buying their lunches, gas and supplies right there in La Pine.

Local merchants commented on the increase in local sales resulting from the project. Economists call it the "ripple effect" when a construction project generates jobs and dollars that, in turn…are spent on goods and services at other businesses in the community that, in turn, increases their ability to spend more in the community. It is estimated that the construction project generated thousands of additional dollars into Midstate's local community and into their neighboring communities in Central Oregon.

Features of the Midstate
Administrative Building

Energy Efficiency

6-inch R-22 insulated walls constructed with recycled foam and fly ash concrete.
High Performance Windows constructed with a double pane, low-e, argon filled, clear glass.
Energy Efficient Lighting and Daylighting: Fluorescent light fixtures equipped with high performance T8 lights. Light fixtures near large windows will dim or turn off when there ample natural daylight in the interior spaces.
Geothermal Heat Pump saves Midstate 40 percent to 50 percent on its heating bill!

Environmental Quality

All of the materials in the Administration Building contain no or low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC).
Indoor Air Quality: When high carbon dioxide levels are detected, fresh air is vented into the Administration building to supply more oxygen to the building occupants. The heat in the conditioned air that is exhausted is captured through a "heat exchanger" and transferred into the fresh air stream. Between 60 percent and 70 percent of the heat can be transferred.
Midstate Electric buys green power (wind) from BPA; 50 percent of the administration building's annual energy use will be provided by wind power.

Materials & Resources

Local Products and Services used where possible.
Forest Stewardship Council Certified Wood used in the construction of the administration building, i.e., materials are not manufactured with endangered or old growth trees.
Native plants and grass make up the natural landscape of the site. These plants require little or no water and reduce the dependency on local water resources by 50 percent. A 100 percent on-site storm water system limits the disruption of natural water flows by eliminating storm water run-off and contaminants.
Light Pollution Reduction: Outdoor light fixtures are designed so that there is no up light present in the sky and that there is no light that spills off the property. This increases night sky visibility and does not intrude into nocturnal habitats.

Innovative Services

Green Housekeeping: Cleaning and maintenance products meet the Green Seal Standard; they contain no harmful chemicals.
Modular SMED Walls and Nexus Floors provide the ability to reconfigure any office or meeting space in the interior without demolition of old walls construction of new walls.
Designated parking spaces are equipped with electric car plug-ins, and promote the use of electric cars.

For more information on LEED, visit the US Green Building Council web site at: http://www.usgbc.org/.

The University of Oregon Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory (UO SRML) has created shade analysis forms for the Energy Trust of Oregon. These forms are used to estimate the effect of shading and orientation on the output of photovoltaic systems. The forms are based on sun path charts that can be created on the UO SRML Website. The sun path charts and shade analysis forms can be created in either Cartesian or polar coordinates.

For samples of the shade analysis forms for Portland and Redmond, Oregon, click on the city name.

The UO SRML Website contains solar radiation data that has been gathered in the region over the past 25 years, plots the performance of several PV systems, and has solar electric lesson plans for high school science students.

For information about creating shade analysis forms for your region, assessing the typical performance of photovoltaic systems in your area, or to find out more about the UO SRML activities contact Frank Vignola at fev@darkwing.uregon.edu.

BPA is funding a senior design project at Oregon State University.The project is a continuation of project work initiated in 2004 and is focused on a real BPA need --load control for retrofit use that could eventually turn into a real product.

The project is also giving engineering seniors a real life project to work on. They have done a thorough job researching the issues, including demand response in the region.

The purpose of this project is to design a programmable device that will allow BPA to monitor and control other devices that are connected via standard wall sockets. The device will monitor and control frequency, power, current, and voltage in a user-specified window.

Visit the project web site to read student's white papers, see their design work, and check out their progress.

-- Brad Miller (503) 230-3764

Another component of the demonstration project is an economic market simulation that will help researchers understand how customers might adjust their energy consumption based on changes in price. The study will simulate conditions that currently do not exist in the Northwest's regulated electric utility industry where residential customers pay the same price for electricity regardless of the overall demand on the system or fluctuations in supply.

Consumers participating in this part of the project and their appliances will be notified when there is a simulated price change. Based on parameters preset by the consumer, the appliances will respond automatically, either delaying consumption or continuing use. Consumers also will have the ability to override the automatic response at any point.

Overall, the demonstration projects are designed to advance technologies that increase reliability and optimize the use of the existing electric infrastructure by better managing how it is used. The project is expected to run through December 2006.

Demonstration project participants include: BPA, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Portland General Electric, Paci?Corp, Clallam County PUD, City of Port Angeles, Mason County PUD #3, IBM, and Whirlpool.

The pilot project has gained the interest of several Northwest newspapers and was also picked up by the Associated Press on the ABC Internet news.

-- Contact Jenny Roehm (503) 230-7319

(Source: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Gridwise Article.