Partnership to Conduct CHP Feasibility Study

As part of a new collaboration, Idaho Power, the Office of Energy Resources (OER) and Amalgamated Sugar Company, LLC have agreed to jointly conduct a feasibility study on the potential benefits of a natural gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) facility at Amalgamated’s Nampa plant. The proposed partnership between government and private industry would benefit local residents, businesses and communities across Idaho.

The CHP project will simultaneously produce electricity for Idaho Power and steam for Amalgamated’s sugar beet processing.

Idaho Power intends to incorporate results of the feasibility study in its Integrated Resource Planning process. “We are constantly evaluating new generation that might be appropriate in our resource portfolio,” said Karl Bokenkamp, general manager of power supply operations and planning. “This study will help us determine whether the CHP project is a viable source to meet shared goals and uphold our commitment to provide our customers reliable, responsible electric services.”

“Projects like this add significantly to a secure energy future for Idaho,” Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter said. “This project in particular fits Idaho’s energy profile. Amalgamated Sugar Company processes sugar at this facility 10 months out of the year, and the plant is shut down for two months during the spring for maintenance. Springtime is runoff time, when our hydropower resources are abundant. This project will make power output available when Idaho needs it most.”

Initial calculations indicate the steam requirement for Amalgamated’s sugar beet processing is sufficient to support a 100 megawatt (MW) power facility. This is roughly enough power to meet the electricity needs of nearly 58,000 homes.

“Working with the Office of Energy Resources and Idaho Power on this feasibility study provides significant opportunities for our business and our surrounding communities,” Amalgamated Sugar President Vic Jaro said. “This collaboration demonstrates the positive results that come from creative, solution-oriented thinking and resourceful planning.”

Other potential benefits of the proposed project include: 

• An approximately 45 percent increase in source energy use efficiency
• Retirement of an existing coal-fired CHP system
• Reduction of environmental impacts, including emissions in the Treasure Valley air shed
• Decreased costs for transmission facilities (Idaho Power lines serving the plant already are in place)
• One-hundred MW load reduction on existing transmission system
• Improvement of Idaho’s energy resources portfolio 

In addition, because Amalgamated Sugar is a cooperative owned by southern Idaho farmers, a reduction in sugar beet processing costs will benefit those farmers and the farming community as a whole. And smaller distributed generation resources such as the CHP project contribute to electrical reliability and are a key component in developing the Smart Grid.

The proposed CHP project meets the goal of OER’s Combined Heat and Power program to foster development of such projects. It also fits within Idaho Power’s three-part strategy of responsible planning, responsible development and protection of resources and responsible energy use.

Return to December 2009 Western Energy News

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