Tom Koenninger: Local firm plans to harness the Pacific

Call it wind on water or wave generation, and you have the makings of renewable electrical power on the Oregon coast in Tillamook County.

What's more, there is a direct connection with Vancouver. It is Columbia Energy Partners, whose president, Chris Crowley, has a long history of wind power development in the Columbia River Gorge area.

That history includes an announced solar project west of Arlington, Ore., and a wind power project consisting of 45 turbines also near Arlington, in partnership with native Americans. The Indians called the area by the lyrical — "T-My-Y-Slah"— or "where the wind blows on the river."

Now, CEP is headed for an ocean venture. The company signed a contract Feb. 9, with the Tillamook County commissioners to develop a wave energy "farm" in the Pacific Ocean a few miles offshore of the county. CEP is trying to ride the wave of renewable power — "harvesting the wind" — in support of a national goal to reduce, if not eliminate, dependence on foreign oil.

The renewable energy developer was founded in 2001 by Crowley, and operates from an office on lower Columbia Street within a stone's throw of the Columbia River. As projects expand, the firm has added principals, including Jon Norling, VP and general counsel; Marl Kane, VP project development; and Peter Blood, VP origination, portfolio.

At Tillamook County, the company will move from wind power to wave power. "Waves are more predictable than wind," Crowley said.

This county of 18,000, largely rural, with agriculture, fishing and logging as its economic base, has adjusted quickly to bring proposals for new sources of renewal power to its shoreline. Studies and planning will take years.

CEP envisions 40 wave-generating turbines producing 30 megawatts of power (one megawatt equals one million watts), according to Norling. By comparison, the Clark Public Utilities River Road generating plant spins out 248 megawatts of electricity.

Crowley said CEP's project would cost $150 million to $200 million.

The turbines, which might be Pelamis wave energy converters from Edinburgh, Scotland, stand about 15 feet high, could be 2.5 to 3 miles from shore, and would not visible except for warning lights at night.

Enter a new wind developer, Principle Power of Seattle, which advanced its proposal at a public meeting Saturday at Oceanside, nine miles west of Tillamook. It would locate floating platforms called windfloats 10 to 12 miles offshore. These devices, which might look like their three-bladed land cousins, would be mounted on 30-story, or 300-foot-high, floating towers, with a total 150 megawatt output.

Power and money would flow. What about the downsides? Visual blight is one. Damage to shrimp, crab and fishing areas are others. The grumbling has started. Vancouver's Crowley says his firm will be open to the public, and will work to mitigate all concerns.

Paul Levesque, chief of staff for Tillamook County, said a group — Tillamook Intergovernmental Development Entity — has been formed to work with the developers. Fishermen are tied in with their own group, Fishermen Advisory Committee of Tillamook County. Oregon State University professor Flaxen Conway, who works with coastal communities, believes seafloor mapping will be needed to identify areas where wind and wave energy equipment could harm the marine habitat.

Levesque emphasized that federal permits prohibit anything in the water for three years.

Pat Ashby, general manager of the Tillamook PUD, said ocean wave/wind power would be fed to shore substations through marine cables that cost $1 million per mile.

If all else fails, this county, with 22,000 dairy cows, is already producing 100,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month from animal waste.

In a nation seeking to wean itself from oil, every new watt of renewable energy is welcome.
 
Tom Koenninger is editor emeritus of The Columbian. His column of personal opinion appears on Wednesdays. Reach him at koenninger@comcast.net.