Our renewable investments include:

Wind
We've participated in wind technology research for more than 20 years.

• Our investment in wind power has helped bring the cost of production down for consumers. With federal incentives, wind power ranges in price from 3 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on transmission and other costs.
• Wind power produces no air emissions.
• Every kwh of wind energy produced means one to two pounds of carbon dioxide emissions are not released by thermal plants.
• By adding more turbines, wind projects can also easily be expanded to help meet a utility’s growing energy needs.

Currently, the company purchases wind power from three wind facilities:

1. Eurus Combine Hills

The December 2003 startup of the Eurus Combine Hills 41-megawatt (mw) wind farm in Milton-Freewater, Ore., was the culmination of an innovative collaboration between an independent nonprofit (the Energy Trust of Oregon), a wind developer (Eurus Energy America) and Pacific Power.

Eurus Combine Hills fast facts

Turbines: 41, 1-mw Mitsubishi turbines
Output: 41 mw

2. Wyoming Wind Energy Project
We purchase nearly 33 mw of the 41-mw Wyoming Wind facility. The company buys almost 20 mw for its regulated customers and markets the rest. In 1999, Pacific Power's parent company received the first-ever "Clean Energy Award" from Renewable Northwest Project, a renewable advocacy group, for its Wyoming Wind Energy Project. The award recognizes outstanding leadership in the promotion of a clean energy project.

Wyoming Wind Energy Project fast facts
Turbines: 69, 450/600 turbines
Total output: 41.4 mw capacity

3. Rock River I
The company purchases 100 percent of the output from a new Rock River I wind power facility in Arlington, Wyo. and will for the next 20 years. This is enough power to serve about out 13,000 homes. 

Rock River fast facts
Turbines: Each of the project’s 50 turbines is mounted on a 60-meter tall tubular tower and has rotors 57 feet in diameter.
Output: Rock River has an output of 50 mw. The turbines produce power at a wind speed of eight miles per hour (mph), reaching peak production at 17 to 20 mph, and shut down when winds reach 55 mph.

Geothermal 
We own and operate the Blundell Geothermal Plant in Utah, which uses naturally created steam to generate electricity. The plant has a net generation capacity of 23 mw.

Solar
The company invested $1.3 million in Solar II, the world’s largest solar energy plant, located in the Mojave Desert. Pacific Power has also installed panels of photovoltaic cells, which convert light to electric current, on three experimental rooftop locations in its service area, including The High Desert Museum in Bend, Ore. This placement represents the state’s first commercial use of photovoltaic power. The company’s other photovoltaic panels are atop the company's office in Moab, Utah, and an elementary school in Green River, Wyo.

AIR QUALITY
Pacific Power employs innovative air quality initiatives to reduce our environmental impact. We are currently working with environmental stakeholders and policymakers to reduce emissions impacting visibility in national parks. Working together helps us strike a balance that protects the environment while allowing for the efficient use of coal resources to produce electricity. To this end, we are working to develop new clean coal technologies and to clean up our existing technologies. We also provide toxic release inventory standards to educate the public about releases in the environment.

Offsetting the environmental impact of releasing carbon dioxide also plays an important role in our effort to address climate change. We are addressing concerns about climate change by reducing our emission rate (CO2/mwh) through commitments to build additional renewable generation and new gas resources. Projects we are involved in to improve air quality include:

• Funded the reforestation of many acres of Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine in Wash., and Ore., which absorb or sequester additional CO ₂.
• Preserving more than 1.5 million acres of rainforest in Belize and Bolivia.

These projects, developed in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and other local partners are expected to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 40 million metric tons over the life of the project.

ISO 14001 registration
More than 5,500 mw of Pacific Power's coal-fired generation — seven power plants in Utah and Wyoming — have earned the ISO 14001 registration for their environmental management systems (EMS).

The company was the second utility in the nation to have its entire fleet of coal-fired power plants ISO 14001 registered. It encompasses more megawatts of generating capacity and more plants than any other U.S. utility. These plants include the Jim Bridger, Dave Johnston, Naughton and Wyodak plants in Wyoming; and the Carbon, Hunter, and Huntington plants in Utah.

ISO 14001 is an international, voluntary, environmental management standard. To receive ISO registration, each power plant must prove it has the necessary processes in place to understand its impact on the environment and the community, along with the methods to continuously improve its environmental performance.

GREENCORPS
Our GreenCorps  program provides grants to employee projects focused on preserving, improving and encouraging education about the environment. Since 1993, we have provided more than $400,000 to more than 200 projects including planting trees and restoring stream beds.

HABITAT PROTECTION
As a responsible environmental steward, we collaborate with the public and resource agencies to identify sensitive species and their habitats and to implement management plans that promote their preservation. We have programs addressing wildlife protection, hydroelectric facilities’ impact on fish and relicensing, and bird interactions with power lines and wind turbines. We also reclaim land after completing our mining operations to restore habitat.

Pacific Power contributed $475,000 towards the purchase of Eagle Island on Washington’s Lewis River to help preserve salmon habitat and ensure compliance with the Endangered Species Act. The island, located seven miles downstream of the Merwin Dam covers about 260 acres. It is considered essential because more than 75 percent of the fall Chinook salmon’s present rearing habitat is associated with the island.

WASTE RECYCLING AND REUSE
We are dedicated to minimizing our environmental footprint through our waste reuse and recycling programs. Metals such as aluminum, copper and steel are recovered from most of our service locations. Many transformers and other electrical equipment are also repaired and sold for reuse. Select used oil is also reused in rebuilt equipment, while other oil from our vehicles and electrical equipment is recycled for energy recovery. Paper, cardboard, wood and plastic are also recycled where possible.