Portland General Electric Co (PGE) expects to spend US$42M on relicensing activities for hydro power plants and facilities this year, it said releasing its first quarter financial results.
The US company has a combined installed capacity of 509MW in eight hydro plants, which range in power up to 465MW – which is for the Pelton Round Butte plants.
Pelton Round Butte, the largest hydro scheme totally within the borders of Oregon state in the Pacific northwest, has won an environmental plaudit from the Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI). The scheme impounds the river Deschutes.
The green rating came as a result of a battery of planned environmental protection measures for the project, including a fish passage to start construction in the third quarter and be operating in 2009. The fish passage will reopen significant stretches of river for migration above the reservoir.
The plant, which is owned by PGE and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, was relicensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 2005.
LIHI is headquartered in Portland, Maine.
PGE posted Q1-’07 group operating revenues of US$436M, up from US$381M last time. Net operating income in the quarter increased from US$6M to US$64M.