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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20190918Reply Comments.pdfAPrursra Avista Corp. 141 1 East Mission P.O.Box 3727 Spokane, Washington 99220-0500 Telephone 5 09-489-0500 Toll Free 800-721-9170 ldaho Public Utilities Commission Otlice ol lhe SecretaryRECEIUED sEP I I 2019 Boise,ldaho September 18,2019 Diane Hanian Commission Secretary Idaho Public Utilities Commission 472W. Washington St. Boise, ID 83702-5983 RE: Case No. AVU-E-19-09 Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) Annual Rate Adjustment Filing of Avista Corporation Dear Ms. Hanian: Enclosed for filing are Avista's Reply Comments for the 2019 PCA Annual Rate Adjustment Filing. Please direct any questions regarding this filing to Annette Brandon at (509) 495-4324 or myself at (509) 495-4620. Patrick Director of Regulatory Affairs Enclosures CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY that I have served Avista Corporation's Reply Comments regarding Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) Annual Rate Adjustment Filing by mailing a copy thereof, postage prepaid, to the following: Commission Secretary ldaho Public Utilities Commission 472W. Washington St. Boise, lD 83702-5983 Jvlarv Lewallen Cleanrvater Paper 28530 W Canyon Creek Rd. - South Wilsonville, OR 97007 Email: marv@marv. lewallen.com (Excluding Confidential lnformation) Dean J. [\Iiller, Lawyer 3620 E. Wam Springs Boise, lD 83701 Email: deanmiller@cableone.net (Excluding Confidential lnformation) Larry A Crowley The Energy Strategies lnstitute lnc 5549 S. Cliffsedge Ave Boise, lD 83716 Email: crowlyla@aol.com (Excluding Confidential !nformation) .ciZ-_ Paul Kimball Manager Regulatory Compliance and Discovery Peter J. Richardson Richardson Adams PLLC 515 N. 27th Street Boise, lD 83702 Peter. richardsonadams. com Ronald L. Williams Willams Bradbury, P.C. P.O. Box 368 Boise, lD 83701 ron@wi I I iamsbrad bu ry. com Terry Borden Cleanruater Paper 601 W. RiversideAve. Suite 1100 Spokane, WA 99201 Terry. Borden@clearwater paper. com Dr. Don Reading 6070 Hill Road Boise, ldaho 83703 d read ing@mindspring. com Dated at Spokane, Washington this 18th day of September 2019 I DAVID J MEYER2 VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF COUNSEL FOR 3 REGULATORY & GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 4 AVISTA CORPORATION5 14II E. MISSION AVENUE 6 P. O.BOX37277 SPOKANE, WASHINGTON 992208 PHONE: (509) 495-8851, FAX: (509) 495-8851 l0 11 t2 9 BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION 13 t4 15 t6 t7 l8 IN THE MATTER OF THE POWER COST ) ADJUSTMENT (PCA) ANNUAL RATE ) ADJUSTMENT FILING OF AVISTA )CoRPORATTON ) CASE NO. AVU-E-19-09 REPLY COMMENTS OF AVISTA CORPORATION 19 On September I I ,2019, the Staff of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission ("Staff') 20 provided comments in Avista's 2019 annual Power Supply Adjustment Application. Avista 2l would first like to thank Staff for their thorough and thoughtful review, conducted both at the 22 Commission Offices as well as on-site at Avista. The purpose of these comments is to briefly 23 address a few concerns raised by Staff. Specifically, Staff provides their understanding of the 24 issues related to the transformers located at Avista's Coyote Springs II generating facility. In the 25 end, Staff recommends that Avista "provide a comprehensive report to the Commission detailing 26 its investigation and studies of outages at the Coyote Springs II Plant and its plans to mitigate 27 future outages." Comments atp.14. 28 Avista has spent considerable time investigating/trouble-shooting the cause of the 29 transformer failures at its Coyote Springs II plant in September 2018. However, given the issue AVISTA'S REPLY COMMENTS PAGE 1 I is most likely located deep within the transformer itself, we have shipped it to an external industry 2 expert, ABB Industrial Solutions in Ontario, Canada for a more detailed investigation. This 3 investigation is anticipated to take several months, with a final "root cause" investigation report 4 expected sometime in the first quarter of 2020. Once the investigation is completed, a 5 Comprehensive Report will be compiled and provided to the Commission for review. 6 As it relates to the Company's future operating plans for Coyote Springs II, Avista is 7 currently investigating a new strategy utilizing three in-service single phase transformers as an 8 alternative to the existing dual-wound, three phase solution. Portland General Electric has used 9 single phase transformers in this configuration at Coyote Springs Unit I for the life of their plant l0 without incident. While we had some initial thoughts about switching to the single phase I I transformer option last decade, the transformer that failed late in 2018 operated, without issues, 12 for almost 13 years. That said, now is the time to consider another option, and as such we have l3 solicited prices for this potential plan and will make a determination when we have sufficient l4 information. 15 Again, Avista thanks Staff for their thorough review of our filing, and we agree with 16 Staff s recommendations set forth on p. l4 of their comments. 17 Dated at Spokane, Washington this I 8th day of Septemb er 2019. 18 AVISTA CORPORATION l9 20 2t 22 23 OBy David Jfuryo Vice President and Chief Counsel for Regulatory & Governmental Affairs AVISTA'S REPLY COMMENTS PAGE 2 I 2 J 4 5 6 7 8 9 10ll t2 l3 t4 l5 16 t7 18 l9 20 2t 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 STATE OF WASHINGTON ) ) County ofSpokane ) David J. Meyer, being first duly swom on oath, deposes and says: That he is the Vice President and Chief Counsel for Regulatory & Governmental Affairs and makes this verification for and on behalf of said corporation, being thereto duly authorized; That he has read the foregoing filing, knows the contents thereof, and believes the same to be true. SIGNED AND SWORN to before me this 18th day of September2019, by David J. Meyer n N C in and for the State of Washington, residing at Commission Expires:Z3 2tir AVISTA'S REPLY COMMENTS PAGE 3 VERIFICATION r) -{>o€ PUeuto