Drafter
Clerk 10/22/2009
Title
AN ORDINANCE authorizing execution of a twenty-year agreement with the city of Seattle's City Light department for the sale of renewable power and environmental attributes of power generated at the West Point wastewater treatment facility and other related agreements that are necessary or convenient to establish and operate the power plant.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. The waste treatment division of the department of natural resources and parks operates a wastewater treatment facility, West Point Treatment Plant ("West Point"), within the city limits of Seattle, Washington.
2. West Point utilizes wastewater treatment methods that include anaerobic digestion as a part of the process, a product of which is usable renewable energy in the form of greenhouse-gas neutral methane gas ("digester gas").
3. A long standing energy and environmental policy of King County is to develop waste to energy technologies to the maximum extent that is cost-effective for the valuable purposes of minimizing waste streams while maximizing energy efficiency and use of renewable energy.
4. The wastewater treatment division successfully operated an efficient digester gas powered electric generating facility with cogeneration heat recovery capability at West Point from 1984 until 2006. This facility was interconnected to Seattle City Light's power system and King County sold the resulting electric utility power from this plant to Seattle City Light.
5. Due to its age, the wastewater treatment division has planned for the replacement of the electric generating facility, funded in part by the recently available increased value of renewable energy and renewable energy attributes sales, as well as by a grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, both of which recognize and monetize the environmental benefits of this facility.
6. Leveraging the aforementioned added revenue streams to offset costs incurred to replace the power plant at West Point, a project has been structured that is cost/revenue neutral on a life-cycle basis, thus representing no added burden on wastewater treatment division's ratepayers.
7. The wastewater treatment division intends to build, own and operate a 4.6 MW electric generating facility comprised of two 2.3 MW Caterpillar engines fueled exclusively by digester gas produced at West Point.
8. The West Point generating facilities will be interconnected with Seattle City Light's electric power distribution system pursuant to a small generator interconnection agreement with Seattle City Light.
9. The West Point generating facilities represent a renewable energy resource that will comply with Washington state's greenhouse gas performance standards and qualify as a an eligible resource under chapter 19.285 RCW.
10. The wastewater treatment division wishes to sell and Seattle City Light wishes to purchase all electrical output and associated environmental attributes generated at West Point for twenty years.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. The executive, or the executive's designee, is hereby authorized to execute for and on behalf of King County, a twenty-year renewable power purchase agreement with Seattle City Light, substantially in the form of Attachment A to this ordinance. The agreement with Seattle City Light sets forth the terms under which the wastewater treatment division will deliver renewable energy and environmental attributes to Seattle City Light.
SECTION 2. The executive, or the executive's designee, is hereby further authorized to execute for and on behalf of King County a small generator interconnection agreement and other agreements as necessary or convenient for King County to interconnect and transmit electrical power from the West Point generating facilities to Seattle City Light's electrical system.
SECTION 3. As required by Seattle City Light for the power purchase agreement under RCW 80.80.060, the King County council finds that the West Point generation facilities comply with the greenhouse gas performance standards required by RCW 80.80.040 because these will be powered exclusively by wastewater digester gas, a renewable resource as defined by RCW 19.280.020.
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