EUGENE WATER  &  ELECTRIC  BOARD

EWEB and the Clatskanie People's Utility District (PUD) constructed a 36-megawatt co-generation facility at the Georgia Pacific Wauna Paper Mill that began commercial operation in mid-1996. The mill is located along the Columbia River near Clatskanie, Ore., approximately 75 miles northwest of Portland.

Cogeneration is the process of producing electricity in conjunction with thermal energy – supplied to an industrial or commercial process – in the form of steam, hot water or hot combustion gases. Cogeneration is a very efficient means of producing electricity.

The Wauna Cogeneration Project consists of a fluidized bed boiler to produce high pressure steam and a turbine-generator to convert steam into electricity and low pressure steam for the paper mill. The boiler burns "sludge" a moist sawdust-like, non-hazardous waste product of the paper making process. Prior to the construction of this project, the sludge was hauled to a land fill. Occasionally, small amounts of natural gas are used to co-fire the boiler, otherwise the power is produced entirely by biomass.

EWEB and Clatskanie each own 50% of the project, which is on property leased from Georgia Pacific. The project is directly connected to BPA's electric transmission system at the Wauna Mill. As a result, there was no need to build transmission facilities for the project, nor is there any cost of transmission.

Georgia Pacific, EWEB and Clatskanie PUD have executed a variety of construction, operation and maintenance agreements for the project. Under the terms of those agreements, Georgia Pacific operates and maintains the facility. The various agreements also include a definition of roles and responsibilities, including the sale of steam from the existing boilers, delivery of sludge to the fluidized bed boiler and the site lease.

The output of the project has been sold to the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) under a 20-year contract that started with commercial operation in 1996. When that contract expires in mid-2016 the output will be split between EWEB and Clatskanie PUD through 2021, when contracts between the three parties will be renegotiated.