FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 1999
CONTACT: Leslie Peterson
303-275-1233 peterson@wapa.gov
GOLDEN, COLO.-The Record of Decision for the Griffith Energy Project was issued today. The ROD documents Western Area Power Administration's decision to enter into interconnection and construction agreements with Griffith Energy Limited Liability Corporation. The agreements will provide the Griffith Power Plant with interconnections to Western's Parker-Davis and Pacific Northwest-Pacific Southwest Intertie transmission systems. The basis for the decision is documented in the ROD.
Copies of the ROD may be obtained from John Holt, Environmental Manager, Western Area Power Administration, Desert Southwest Region, P.O. Box 6457, Phoenix, AZ, 85005-6457, (602) 352-2592, FAX: (602) 352-2630, e-mail: holt@wapa.gov. The ROD will be available on Western's Web site under the link to the Griffith Energy Project at www.wapa.gov once it is published in the Federal Register.
Griffith Energy Limited Liability Corporation plans to construct and operate the Griffith Energy Project, a natural gas-fired, combined-cycle powerplant, located on private land south of Kingman, Ariz.
The project will be a "merchant plant," which means that it is not owned by a utility. Currently, there is no long-term commitment or obligation by any utility to purchase the capacity and energy generated by the Griffith Plant. The project will, instead, seek to market its capacity and energy to the regional electric markets. Power purchases by customers will be voluntary, wholesale purchases and all economic project costs will be borne by the project, not by any utility rate payers.
Griffith Energy applied to interconnect its proposed powerplant with Western's transmission system. Western, as an agency in the Department of Energy
and a major transmission system owner, must provide access to its transmission
- MORE -
system when it is requested by an eligible organization per existing policies, regulations and laws.
The interconnections will integrate the power generated by the project into the regional transmission grid and will allow Griffith to supply its power to the competitive electric wholesale market.
Western Area Power Administration annually markets and transmits more than 10,000 megawatts of power from hydroelectric powerplants owned and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 15 central and western states.
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