Plant seeks energy boost
Gas-powered: Company wants to expand operation that started in 2008

“Inside the control room of the Grays Harbor Energy Center on Fuller Hill near Elma, the monitor told plant operators that about 550 megawatts of electricity enough to power about 425,000 homes pulsed from the plant into a Bonneville Power Administration transmission line erected some 30 years ago to serve the Washington Public Power Supply Systems Satsop nuclear plants.

Those controversial nuclear plants succumbed to cost overruns, mismanagement and a deflated Northwest energy market in the early 1980s, long before they were completed.

By comparison, the Satsop gas-powered plant has been low-profile and running in near anonymity for two years except for complaints from nearby neighbors irritated by noise and, to a lesser extent, air pollution.

When WPPSS faded from the Satsop scene, the consortium of public utilities left a lot of land, water supply and infrastructure behind to support a gas-fueled power plant, Invenergy plant manager Todd Gatewood said,” quoting The Olympian.

Washington state’s ‘Cash for Appliances’ program begins

“In an effort to get residents to upgrade to more energy efficient appliances, the Washington state Cash for Appliances rebate program began on Monday, March 15.

Residents can make use of either a $75 or $100 rebate for the purchase of qualifying Energy Star refrigerators or clothes washers, respectively, under the program.

According to the state Department of Commerce, those rebates will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Approximately $5.6 million is available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Once those funds run out, so does the program, according to the department’s Web site,” quoting the Marysville Globe.