The INDEPENDENT, March 1, 2007
Page 15
Power of the People
By W. Marc Farmer,
General Manager,
West Oregon Electric Cooperative
WOEC
Renew-
able
Energy
Pro-
jects
West
Oregon Electric Cooperative is
involved in two renewable en-
ergy projects through Power
Resources Cooperative (PRC).
We have been a part of the
Coffin Butte Landfill project for
over ten years, and have now
added participation in a Wave
Energy Project. I wanted to
give you some exciting news
on both projects.
WOEC is pleased to intro-
duce our new Green Power
program. The Green Power
program offers our members
the opportunity to purchase an-
other source of renewable en-
ergy, in addition to our current
renewable energy source of hy-
dro power from BPA. With all of
the increased interest levels in
renewable energy across the
country, and in our own service
area, we wanted to create a
way for our members to partici-
pate in the use of additional
clean, renewable, and environ-
mentally friendly sources of en-
ergy.
The renewable energy used
in our Green Power program
will come from power produced
at the Coffin Butte Resource
Project, which creates the pow-
er by burning methane gas pro-
duced from a nearby landfill.
WOEC has owned a share of
the Coffin Butte Project since
1996 but, until now, has sold its
entire share of the output to an-
other utility. We will now be of-
fering our members an oppor-
tunity to purchase blocks of
Green Power from Coffin Butte
renewable energy by simply
asking for an application to sign
up for the program.
We will be selling Green
Power in blocks of 100 kilowatt
hours at $2 per block. This
amount will be an addition to
your normal power bill. Mem-
bers will sign a one year con-
tract to purchase as many
blocks as they would like up to
the amount of their average
normal usage. For example, if I
were to sign up and purchase
five blocks (500 kWh) of Green
Power, this would increase my
regular power bill by $10 per
month. Each additional block
purchased helps us continue to
offer renewable energy – now
through Coffin Butte – and in
other projects WOEC is in-
volved in through our member-
ship in PRC. Look for more in-
formation and an application in
the March issue of Ruralite if
you would like to be a part of
the Green Power Program.
PRC is also participating in
the development of Wave Ener-
Hagg Lake opens this weekend for trout
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife officials remind an-
glers that Henry Hagg Lake in
Washington County opens to
trout fishing Saturday, March 3.
ODFW will stock the lake with
18,000 legal-size rainbow trout
and 120 larger brood trout prior
to opening day.
Located 25 miles southwest
of Portland, Hagg Lake is a
1,200-acre reservoir construct-
ed by the Bureau of Reclama-
tion for irrigation and flood con-
trol. The lake averages 51 feet
in depth and is 110 feet deep at
its maximum.
At the BiMart Hagg Lake
Fishing Derby, anglers who
catch one of the 200 specially
marked trout will win a prize.
This event runs until 2:00 p.m.
Henry Hagg Lake is operat-
ed by Washington County as
Scoggins Valley Park. Facilities
include two boat ramps, sever-
al picnic areas, a handicapped
fishing dock, and a network of
hiking trails. Users pay a day-
use fee for vehicles and boats.
For more information about the
park, call Washington County
Parks Department at (503)
846-8715.
gy off the Oregon Coast in con-
junction with Oregon State Uni-
versity and Ocean Power Tech-
nologies, Inc. (OPT). A test unit
will be placed this summer just
off the coastline by Gardiner. If
the test is successful, 13 more
units will be placed in 2008.
The attributes that make this
project so appealing to us is
that it is a non-polluting form of
energy, it can be readily inte-
grated into local distribution
systems, it is more reliable and
predictable than wind power,
and produces more energy per
meter than wind, as water is
denser than air. We are excited
about the potential of this proj-
ect to produce future renew-
able energy. BPA has offered
funds to help us develop this
new technology. WOEC is us-
ing part of our Conservation
Rate Credits to participate in
this new technology. If this proj-
ect successfully produces ener-
gy sufficient for power usage, it
could very well become a future
part of the WOEC Green Pow-
er Program.
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Vernonia Lake trout stocking set
Vernonia Lake is scheduled
to be stocked with 3,000 trout
the week of March 12. Stocking
is done by the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife.
Additional trout are sched-
uled to be stocked in Vernonia
Lake the week of March 19
(4,000 trout) and the week of
April 16 (1,000 trout). Happy
fishing.
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