Are we running out of electricity in the Northwest??? (Seattle: how much, home)

[509]

This morning it is 16 degrees in Seattle and 0 degrees in Spokane. No big deal, nothing like the extended runs of minus 25 in Spokane during the 1980's.

EXCEPT......https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...cility-outage/

and in Spokane....https://www.spokesman.com/stories/20...ural-gas-beca/

We are to conserve electricity for a relatively mild cold snap??

The Biden Administration and the Democrats are moving ahead with moving the Snake River dams.

Might be time to write Inslee, Murray, and Cantwell and your local representative that you like your electricity and want to keep it.

WE REALLY DO NEED TO VOTE in MORE INTELLIGENT PEOPLE.

Here are the links to the grid: https://transmission.bpa.gov/Busines...d/baltwg3.aspx

Notice we are getting little electricity from California as promised under the BPA inter-tie agreement.

Here is the California grid: https://www.caiso.com/todaysoutlook/pages/supply.aspx

Shows they are sending somebody little electricity.

[MechAndy]

My problem solving works by breaking larger things down to simple things and then go from there.
I think having the damns removed would be great in a simple perfect world.
Once you add in all the factors this is far from simple.

I’m pro fish but I’m also a realist.
I’m sure you could easily named 20-30 different factors in this situation.
I ran into a paywall on your first link so that wasn’t much help on gathering information like possibly how much are we selling out of state and things of that nature that would be helpful in forming an opinion.

If we are selling a resource that we greatly need the purchaser should be paying greatly to make us whole and I’m just not sure that is happening.

There are numerous issues elsewhere too, like sea lion management, unfair preferential rights, environmentally unfriendly manufacturing and the list goes on and on.

I do agree that we need the smartest people possible working on this and I personally don’t think one party can supply this.
As long as we don’t get stuck with a luggage thief to make things fair I think it’s a step in the right direction.

[509]

Here is Puget Sound Energy's press release...

https://www.pse.com/en/press-release...e%20descending

If we are selling a resource that we greatly need the purchaser should be paying greatly to make us whole and I’m just not sure that is happening.

The electrical inter-tie with California is complex.

When it first when in the 1980's, the deal was BPA would send power to California in summer when their demand is greatest, and they would send us electricity in winter when Pacific Northwest demand is highest.

The deal between BPA and California was that the electricity was a trade, NOT a sale.

Unfortunately, California has been REMOVING electrical capacity to the point that they import 30-40% of their electricity. I don't think they have any to send back to us!!!

I look at the generating web site almost every day. Yeah, its a weird hobby and over the year only two or three times do you see the PNW importing electricity.

BPA is a Federal agency so I assume it is selling its electricity to California at the subsidized cost that the PNW pays. BTW California politicians want BPA to send electricity to California arguing that BPA and its dams are Federal projects and they should have access to BPA electricity as well as the PNW.

The eastern Washington PUD's SELL their electricity on the BPA grid to western Washington and Oregon and California as well. It is how we pay for our fiber optic system, and cheap electricity. That is a separate case from BPA electricity.

I am surprised that there is so little discussion about the inter-tie in the PNW.

I learned a lot about the PNW grid in the early 1990's when the Sierra Club sued the Forest Service. At that time, it was LINE CAPACITY to western Washington and BPA fixed it quietly in the 1990's.

Today's events look like a lack of generating capacity. That is much harder to fix, particularly if you take out the Snake River dams.

[jabogitlu]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

I do agree that we need the smartest people possible working on this and I personally don’t think one party can supply this.

I'm not convinced either party can. We are staring down extremely consequential results of the industrialization of our planet and we need to figure out how to transition to some kind of future where we can live in balance with nature but maintain a modern standard of living.

The problem with the Republicans is once you vote them into office, they bend over backwards to do everything they can to control people's personal lives about gender, babies, and God, and give away ****ing insane amounts of money to the biggest corporations and wealthiest individuals.

The problem with the Democrats is once you vote them into office, they bend over backwards to control housing supply, mandate multiple layers of bureaucracy and insane standards that aren't grounded in reality to any program they can touch, and regulate the hell out of guns.

I think both parties are way out of touch with the general ideas of the common people as well as what we need in order to thrive for the next 50 years.

[509]

I think you spend to much time reading the Seattle Times.

The Democrats are the corporate party.

The money for the stadiums, Boeing, Amazon, MicroSoft and even the Seattle Times all were gifts from the Democrats over the years.

Here is some light reading for you....https://www.opensecrets.org/

Official money flows to the politicians in a easy to read and follow format. Find your favorite politicians AND your least favorite politicians and follow the money.

It is a great learning experience.

[Diana Holbrook]

Good discussion 509 - it's something too many don't understand.

We have a need for MORE electrical infrastructure, and Democrats are actively dismantling the electrical infrastructure we have in exchange for windmills that won't provide what we need today, let alone in the next decade.


Should we be investing in new technology? YES! Can these new technologies ADD to what we have now? SURE! Can they replace what we have and will need? NOT YET.

[Transmition]

Originally Posted by 509

The Biden Administration and the Democrats are moving ahead with moving the Snake River dams.

But this was requested in the first place by Eastern Washington Republicans, would you believe that they asked for it for ecological reasons. Then it was supported by Idaho Republicans because it would help salmon populations in their state. It's a somewhat muddy issue because it will affect so many people in different ways.

They don't even provide all that much electricity, I think it was something like 3% at peak times.

[rantiquity]

Then what is the solution? Nuclear maybe....no not maybe it has to be done.

Shutting down the coal/natural gas/oil power plants might sound like a boost to the environment but is it?
Here on the Peninsula the dams on the Elwha river were removed and before I installed my solar panels my PUD bills were around $170 in the winter months after the dams were removed the bill jumped to over $300 a month in the winter months.

I installed solar on our home and my current bill runs about $47 dollar a month April thru November and because the excess power going back to the PUD my winter bills are a little higher then $47 a month depending on the temperate and how much winter sun we get.
I don't think we get that much power on the Peninsula from the so-called renewal energy and we remain on the BPA. We have no access to natural gas on the Peninsula. And most of our gasoline is supplied by Cherry Point in Anacortes.

There seem to be some resistance to Nuclear power but that IMO is mostly a knee jerk reaction. Does it cost more to built a nuclear power plant......of course but those you support renewable energy and against fossil fuel should support Nuclear power.

[rantiquity]

Originally Posted by Transmition

But this was requested in the first place by Eastern Washington Republicans, would you believe that they asked for it for ecological reasons. Then it was supported by Idaho Republicans because it would help salmon populations in their state. It's a somewhat muddy issue because it will affect so many people in different ways.

They don't even provide all that much electricity, I think it was something like 3% at peak times.

Although BPA is part of the DOE, it is self-funded and covers its costs by selling its products and services at cost. The BPA provides about 28% of the electricity used in the region. BPA transmits and sells wholesale electricity in eight western states: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnev...20the%20region.

[steiconi]

Yeah, electric vehicles are overtaxing the infrastructure. Bad planning.