Avista Corp. says it is evaluating proposals from vendors interested in providing it about 35 average megawatts of long-term renewable energy, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2007, and hopes to decide on a supplier by early next month.


Also, the Spokane-based utility says it plans to issue by the end of this month a much broader request for energy-efficiency program ideas that would help it save 69 average megawatts of power by 2016.


Average megawatt means one megawatt of power actually supplied over a specified period of time, rather than referring to capacity. One megawatt is enough to supply the electrical needs of roughly 650 Inland Northwest homes. Thus, the two measures together could have an impact equal to creating enough power to supply about 67,600 homes.


Avista currently serves 330,000 electric customers and 305,000 natural gas customers across the Inland Northwest. Its renewable-energy and electric-efficiency solicitations are intended to help it meet future energy supply needs as outlined in a new long-term integrated resource plan (IRP) that the company completed last year.


The IRP estimates that if Avista doesnt take steps such as expanding its energy-resource base and implementing conservation programs, it faces a likelihood of annual energy deficits in the hundreds of average megawatts by 2016.


The company received a total of 24 responses to its recent request for renewable-energy proposals, 14 of which involved wind power, and has culled that overall group to a short list of four, says spokesman Hugh Imhof.


We were pleased with the number of responses, and the variety we got was good. We were sort of surprised by how high the prices were, but those prices have been whittled down somewhat through negotiations with the prospective vendors, he says.


We have to be thinking about our customers and bring it in at a price that doesnt raise rates, he adds.


Despite the increasingly touted potential for deriving energy from renewable sources other than hydroelectric power, such as biomass, landfill gas, and the like, the responses to the Avista request for proposals suggest that wind power remains by far the most viable alternative of that bunch for meeting larger-scale needs.


The 14 wind-power proposals equated to a combined 428 average megawatts of power and a total generating capacity of 1,272 megawatts, Imhof says. The rest of the proposals, meanwhile, accounted only for a combined 41 average megawatts and 44 megawatts of total capacity, he says. The gap between average megawatts and total capacity was much greater for wind power than for the other sources simply because the wind doesnt blow all of the time, he says.


Avista said in its request for proposals that it preferred to own the renewable-energy resource, but also would consider a power-purchase agreement, or some combination of the two. Under a power-purchase agreement, the vendor would develop, own, and operate the generating facility, and Avista would buy some or all of the power it produced.


Avista had a total average load, or demand, last year of around 1,051 megawatts and a peak load of 1,660 megawatts. Its newly updated IRP predicts that it could begin experiencing annual energy deficits in 2010 and that they could climb to 360 average megawatts by 2016, unless the company takes corrective steps.


The IRP proposes meeting more than half of the companys future needs by expanding renewable resources, adopting conservation measures, and upgrading its generating facilities. Renewable resources make up the largest component, accounting for 480 of the 830 additional megawatts the company expects to need by 2016.


Avista will be issuing the separate conservation-focused request for information shortly to a broad range of energy-service providers, Imhof says. Through the responses to that request, it will seek to begin expanding dramatically a conservation effort it launched in 1978 and that has cut energy consumption to date by more than 1 billion kilowatt-hours, or enough energy to power about 3,500 homes for a year, he says.


Contact Kim Crompton at (509) 344-1263 or via e-mail at kimc@spokanejournal.com.