gordon-matthews

Seasonal Energy Storage and the River Road Generating Plant (RRGP)

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 20:03:58 GMT

Clark PUD owns and operates a combined-cycle gas turbine electricity generating plant on River Road in Vancouver, WA. The River Road Generating Plant (RRGP) is vital resource producing 250MW of electricity when operating. The plant is fueled with methane and it produces substantial amounts of carbon pollution in the form of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2).

The Washington State Climate Commitment Act (CCA) requires Clark to begin limiting operation in 2030, progressively ramping down operation to a complete shut-down in 2045. That will be a significant loss to our available sources of electricity and will also be a significant financial loss to Clark.

There is an opportunity to extend the use of the plant, and amortizing our investment far into the future: utilizing surplus state-wide renewable generation from the spring to produce and store hydrogen to fuel the plant in periods when sufficient primary renewable energy is not available in the winter months.

FUTURE PROOFING THE NORTHWEST ENERGY LANDSCAPE

Executive Summary

Clark PUD owns and operates a combined-cycle gas-turbine (CCGT) generating plant located on River Road in Vancouver, WA. RRGP combusts natural gas (methane, or CH4) to directly spin a primary gas turbine, similar to a large jet-engine, that turns an electrical generator to produce electrical power. The ‘combined cycle’ architecture also captures the high-temperature exhaust stream from the gas-turbine to produce steam that spins a low-pressure steam turbine, capturing this waste energy to produce additional electric power. [Figure 1]

This is the most efficient hydro-carbon fuel electrical generator available and widely utilized across the world. The RRGP is capable of producing 250MW of electricity and provides a vital resource essential to keep ‘the lights’ on especially during periods of extreme heat and cold weather.

Introduction

The Washington State Climate Commitment Act (CCA) requires Clark to begin limiting operation in 2030, progressively ramping down operation to a complete shut-down in 2045.

‘Oxidizing’ or burning fossil fuels also produces substantial amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas contributing to our climate change. The Washington State (WA) Climate Commitment Act (CCA) requires that as early as 2030, Clark PUD must begin limiting use of the RRGP and shut down the Plant no later than 2045. That will leave a significant hole in the resources Clark PUD can call upon to meet growing electricity demand.

CH₄ + 2O₂ → CO₂ + 2H₂O

At the same time, WA is encouraging the development of renewable energy sources like Wind and Solar power. These are a major source for our future energy landscape as we transition to more renewable, carbon-free energy. We can and already are deploying vast amounts of wind and solar and can develop enough to meet our needs, especially our summer peak loads driven by warm weather and heat waves.

But, we and our Utilities supplying essential power face two challenges: meeting both our summer peaks and our winter demands, especially during severe cold snaps. Winter is especially challenging: The Pacific NW sees little solar energy during the winter as our days grow shorter. And, the weather systems bringing us the most severe cold snaps typically are the result of ‘static high-pressure systems setting up over the Cascades’. That means there is also almost no available wind energy. We have traditionally relied on the BPA supplied hydropower, but that is a static amount, at best and our loads are growing substantially as we eliminate carbon-based fuels and strive to electrify everything.

Our Challenge

Developing sufficient wind and solar resources to meet our summer needs must reach a level where we can provide sufficient electrical power in August and September which can be hot and when air-conditioning demand is high. But these months near the Equinox, when daylight is diminishing. Backing up to the Solstice, in May and June the output from the solar resources is much higher, it’s windy and what ever run-off we will get fueling the hydro system is coming down the mountain as our springs grow warmer. We will have way too much renewable energy at a time where our demand, (load) is light as the days are long and beautifully warm. The physics of generating electricity is that we must match generation to load: we cannot generate more electricity than we are using, or really bad things happen to our grid. Our only present option is to turn off the surplus generation.

What if we could store this surplus generation from the summer Solstice to use during the winter months? Electro-chemical batteries currently used by utilities are only useful for storing energy for hours or at most days. Over a period of months, the charge deteriorates - and these are expensive!

A solution is to convert the surplus electricity to hydrogen (H2). This can be stored safely using new commercial technology such as ‘powdered metal hydride’ (PMH) filled steel tanks. The H2 bonds to the PMH so even if a tank is punctured, the H2 remains inside. (Slightly heating the tanks allows the H2 to flow freely) And, if the H2 ever does leak, it forms water vapor and is dissipated into the atmosphere.

An Opportunity

The physics of generating electricity is that we must match generation to load: we cannot generate more electricity than we are using, or really bad things happen to our grid.

In the spring, we can transmit the surplus renewable electricity to the vicinity of the RRGP and there convert the electricity to H2 and store onsite. While our transmission system is largely constrained, during the spring when loads are light there is available capacity.

When we need the RRGP, we can initially begin blending the H2 with the CH4 to run the CCGT. In effect, instead of burning CH4, we are burning CH5, CH6, … . We get even better performance since less carbon means that more of the reaction energy is delivered to the turbine as heat, instead of to produce CO and CO2. And, we are producing less CO2, helping us comply with the requirements of the CCA while utilizing a vital source of electric power.

Using Hydrogen

Using H2 to supplement CH4 at the RRGP will require Clark PUD to invest in new equipment, and these investments cost money. Fortunately, we have four (4) years before we the CCA requires us to limit CO2 production. We can start small and when successful, scale up incrementally.

The systems required to convert electricity to H2 and store onsite are highly modular. We can begin with a modest investment that will not impact our rates and begin by blending small amounts of H2 with the CH4 as a ‘proof of concept’.

Annually, we can continue to invest in more H2 modules and gradually increase the amount of H2 introduced into the combustion process. There are limits to how much H2 we can blend into the RRGP fuel stream. But, the RRGP undergoes periodic major maintenance where we open the turbine and replace turbine blades. This will give us an opportunity to retrofit turbine blades compatible with higher percentages of H2. Eventually, over a decade as our onsite h2 production grows, we could be fueling the plant with substantially less methane driving towards a future, 19 years from now when the RRGP is 100% h2 fueled with ‘green’ H2 produced exclusively from renewable energy sources.

We made a substantial investment in the RRGP. Progressively limiting its use and abandoning it in 2045 would be a significant financial loss to our public utility. Adapting it to run on renewable, green energy allows us to amortize that major investment decades into the future, while significantly helping us to eliminate carbon pollution and providing the essential electricity we depend on!

We made a substantial investment in the RRGP... Adapting it to run on renewable, green energy allows us to eliminate carbon pollution and providing the essential electricity we depend on.

Implementation

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From Miners to Farmers: Building the Right Things First

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:42:59 GMT

For two centuries, our economy has run on monetizing finite commodities. Dig it up, burn it, sell it, and make a handful of people extraordinarily rich. Renewable energy proposes something different: we stop being miners and start being farmers. We harvest the energy that arrives on its own every day, and we keep harvesting it.

That distinction matters for Clark County specifically. Extraction economies export their wealth. Harvest economies keep it local - in construction, in maintenance, in the ratepayers who own the system. This is good for our planet and our posterity, but I want to be clear that it is also, plainly, good business.

We stop being miners and start being farmers.

For two centuries, our economy has run on monetizing finite commodities. Dig it up, burn it, sell it, and make a handful of people extraordinarily rich. Renewable energy proposes something different.

miners or farmers?

Here is the honest problem with wind and solar. We have to make energy available when people need it, and that is not always when it occurs. Solving that is the entire ballgame for the next ten years - and it comes down to two things: storage, and dispatchable resources we can call on at will.

Anyone who tells you we can electrify everything without solving both is selling something.

the catch: Energy doesn't arrive on schedule

From a purely technical standpoint, pumped storage is one of the most viable tools we have. The concept is almost embarrassingly simple. When there's surplus energy, you pump water uphill from a lower reservoir to an upper one. When you need the energy back, you let it flow down through a turbine.

No exotic chemistry. No degradation cycle to worry about. The investment lasts a century.

It also solves a problem most people don't know exists: on an electrical system, you cannot generate power without load to absorb it, or you burn down the system. Surplus renewable generation currently gets curtailed - turned off and wasted. Pumped storage turns that waste into a reservoir.

What's changed isn't the argument. What's changed is that the technology finally caught up, the costs finally fell, and the window to act finally opened. Windows close.

Pumped Storage: Elegant, proven, Century-long

I get asked about the Goldendale pumped storage proposal constantly, so let me be direct.

The engineering is sound. The topography is genuinely well suited. But that land - like all of the Northwest - belonged to the tribes before we appropriated it. After the travesties of the last two centuries, we have no right to build there without the consent and the participation of the people whose sacred ground it is.

That isn't a technical objection and I won't dress it up as one. It's a question of whether we've learned anything.

We'll have to find another hill. There are other hills.

We haven't earned the right to repeat that history because the physics happen to be convenient.

Goldendale: Right Topography, Wrong Process

If Clark PUD is going to put ratepayer dollars into an emerging dispatchable resource, recent developments in geothermal are the most promising thing on the table. It's dispatchable around the clock. It doesn't depend on weather. The new drilling techniques coming out of the oil and gas sector have changed the cost picture substantially in just a few years.

It is more viable, more affordable, and less onerous than the alternative currently getting the attention. That's where I'd put our money.

Geothermal is the underrated bet

I want to be precise here, because this gets caricatured.

I am not against the physics. If a nuclear proposal fully and credibly accounts for its waste, it belongs in the conversation as a dispatchable resource. My objection is narrower and, I think, harder to dismiss: the small modular reactor advocates have said essentially nothing about the waste. Not a plan, not a site, not a reprocessing commitment, not a cost.

The technologies to reprocess waste materials completely do exist. They are an expensive commitment. I suspect the silence is strategic - that a full accounting of what SMR investment would add to our already appalling nuclear legacy would show the project isn't economically viable.

Until that question is answered satisfactorily, I cannot support Clark PUD actively funding the pursuit of new nuclear. That is real ratepayer money committed to a technology whose back end nobody will describe.

Ratepayers are entitled to hear the whole cost of a thing before they're asked to fund it.

Nuclear: Answer the waste question

These are big issues - bigger than one county. But 75 percent of Washington state is public power. That's not a small lever. It means the publics, acting together, have standing to shape what the region builds and how fast.

That's the job I'm asking for. Not to attend the meetings. To read the technical material, understand it, and use Clark's seat to push the region toward the resources that will actually keep the lights on and the rates defensible in 2040.

We have about a decade to get this right. Let's spend it building the right things.

- Gordon Matthews

Candidate for Clark PUD Commissioner · 2026

The publics, acting together, have standing to shape what the region builds and how fast.

Bigger Than Clark

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A Case For Community Solar Class Equities

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 13:22:40 GMT

Our quest to decarbonize by electrifying everything, while essential, poses significant challenges to our current energy infrastructure and supply. Remarkable advances in wind and particularly solar energy technologies offer a solution, but the amount of these resources required - on a short timeline - is daunting. Since renewable costs are 'front-loaded' to build the infrastructure, this translates to a substantial new investment. The payback will also be substantial since once the renewables are generating, fuel costs disappear. The question facing us is how to finance these investments in our collective futures. Community Solar is a proven mechanism providing the upfront capital without finance costs in return for a viable return on investment (ROI) for community members (Subscribers) investing in their community.

Community Solar investments, to the extent offered, are wildly popular. For example, five years ago, Clark PUD offered Community Solar Subscriptions through a 'bill-stuffer' to be conducted two weeks later, starting at 08:00. The entire initial subscription sold out within 4 minutes. After a short reconsideration, Clark PUD again opened their website for a 2nd equal amount that sold-out in 15 minutes! This past Fall, the East Vancouver Project was fully subscribed in 2 hours. Regrettably, there was a 5-year lag between the two projects.

The Subscriptions offer payback through bill reductions credited to the Subscribers electricity accounts. They offer a degree of portability to Customers, but only as long as the Customer remains within the Clark PUD Service Territory. For individuals moving outside of the Service Territory, their investments become a 'write-off'. We can change that, and we need to make the change.

Already, the Pacific Northwest is forecast to be in energy deficit, particularly in the Summer months due to HVAC adoption. While Solar is an intermittent resource, it is most assured to occur on hot, Summer days - by definition, when the Sun is shining. Looking more closely, our peak demand conditions typically resulting in high HVAC loads are the result of a 'static high-pressure cell setting up on the east-side of the Cascades'. Those conditions coincide with cloudless-skies - and no wind generation. Add to this the impending exponential increase in electricity demand from transportation electrification and local population growth, and we can see a crisis brewing.

One relatively simple change to existing statutory law will result in an equally robust increase in available solar energy: Treat Community Solar investments the same way we do Equities, allowing Customers to recoup their principal investment when they leave the Service Territory.

Introduction

By Gordon Matthews, PE

Presented on February 26, 2024

Community Solar is a remarkable tool to enable us to ‘electrify everything’ while insulating ratepayers from huge market-driven price spikes – and allows everyone who wants to can be a part of the solution and to benefit from their investments - if we get the details right.

Community Solar offers a solid investment opportunity for residential Customers - as long as they remain within the Utility's Service Territory. Much like Rooftop Solar, if you move away, the investment becomes a right-off. This is the single downside to current Community Solar Photovoltaic (CSPV) offerings, and can be remedied simply: Establish a mechanism where the Utility is obligated to buy the CSPV Subscription from a departing Customer. While there will certainly be details to work through, in general the Utility purchases the CSPV array investment from the Customer at the initial purchase price(s) with an inflation adjustment similar to a COLA.

Utilities Provide 'Backstop' Repurchase of 'Stranded' CSPV Investment

Customer '1st Costs' (principal) protected.

Utility resale shields rate base.

Utility adds generation at virtually no cost.

Ratepayers avoid ~50% added costs for bonds and commercial finance.

This is not a 'subsidy' born by the Utility, but rather a cost of doing business - well. As we move to 'electrify everything' we are going to need more electricity, particularly to accommodate the substantial new loads coming into the market for electricity from transportation. Consider this: One Gallon of gasoline represents 33.1kWh of energy. Now consider the sheer volume of fossil fuel sales we need to curtail. This is a remarkable opportunity for the electric utility industry filled with challenges - and benefits. Also consider the amount of money currently flowing to 'big oil'. All of that revenue is now poised to come to the utility industry. The daunting question is where will that new [energy] generation come from and how quickly can it be brought online?

Traditionally, Utilities go to the commercial financial markets to raise funding and issue Bonds to build the power plants needed. These were for major resources designed to serve for decades. In the era of Renewables, this means purchasing a PV Plant from a commercial developer and incurring the 'cost of capital' to roll into the Rate Base. By aggressively offering CSPV, the capital cost disappears: the Utility is acquiring the funding from its own Customers at no upfront cost of capital.

In addition, CSPV gives the Utility a tool to manage their system. While Roof-Top PV (RTPV) may seem like it supports our essential move to Renewables, it actually adds to the chaos. Since a Utility has no visibility on the instantaneous output of a RTPV Array, or if it is even operational. CSPV aggregates what effectively amounts to many rooftops of solar behind a single meter represents significant capacity, warranting a SCADA point. This visibility facilitates Utility operator resource management as well as potential surplus to push into the Market. A single, consolidated, large array also offers an efficient platform to deploy and manage large-scale storage resources as these become commercially viable.

The participating Customer derives the benefits of the monthly 'dividends' by seeing a credit against their electricity usage. By instituting a mechanism where a Customer can be 'bought out' by the Utility if they leave the Service Territory, their Principal is preserved. The Utility can then opt to either retain ownership of those shares or to resell to new Customers as they move into their Service Territory. This makes CSPV a smart, secure investment for Customer’s future – and for their community.

This mechanism also benefits the other Customers on the System choosing not to invest in the CSPV. The Utility is adding generation to their portfolio without incurring the substantial cost of Capital. Even if the Panels purchased by a Customer are ultimately purchased by the Utility if the Customer departs, these purchases are gradual and when added to the Rates result in marginal increases: far less than conventional financing. In addition, the continuous operation and maintenance of the CSPV Array warrants a modest Utility service charge to cover maintenance and Panel replacement, ensuring the Array performs to expectations.

CSPV is also egalitarian: any Clark PUD Customer can participate. Participation doesn’t require a suitably oriented, shade-free roof. It also affords financial flexibility: Customers can buy any number of panels, including ‘fractional panels’, allowing all to participate.

Not only is this more egalitarian, it is a better value for everyone. CSPV projects produce 140% of the Solar generation compared to RTPV due to the economies of scale and eliminating the need for customized engineering solutions to install. It also provides a rationale to reduce or eliminate the ‘postage-stamp rate’ rebates to RTPV Customers: everyone can participate in CSPV and all participants share in the financial returns both from monthly ‘dividends’ based on generation and through avoiding substantial rate increases to secure new, dispatchable and predictable generation.

To make CSPV continually available, Utilities need to obtain title to large tracts of developable properties, preferably on the east-side of the Cascades with 350-days of clear skies, annually. This opens the door to new Customer options such as adding to their CSPV investment as a monthly billing. While most Customers likely do not have thousands of dollars to invest in a lump-sum, everyone could elect to purchase CSPV Shares in monthly increments ranging from $1 or more. ‘Fractional Shares’ of Panels add up, allowing Utilities to continually add generation for the foreseeable future

CSPV Investments Avoid Cost of Rate-basing New (Renewables) Generation

Consider the amount of money currently flowing to 'big oil'. All of that revenue is now poised to come to the utility industry. The daunting question is where will that new [energy] generation come from and how quickly can it be brought online?

WA State hosts many Public Utilities. These are technically not under State jurisdiction, rather their elected Commissioners. The Washington PUD Association is perhaps the best venue to promote adding large quantities of CSPV for its members. It is a truly a win-win for all parties: Their Customers secure a conservative investment tool, complete with both monthly 'dividend' and protection for their ‘principal’ while Utilities access a 'free' source of funding to increase their generation portfolio. Non-participating members are protected from Rate increases.

State Government Effectively Controls Utilities through Regulation

In January 2024, the Biden Administration directed the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to make 22 million acres of Federal Lands within 10 miles of existing Transmission infrastructure available for Solar Development. This presents an extraordinary opportunity for Washington Public Power. In broad terms, areas in Washington east of the Cascades can expect an average of 4kWh/m2/Day. This translates to 10MWh per sq. mile per day of available incident solar radiation. Consider a scenario where Washington Public Power secured (at no cost) a 10 square mile plot as a ‘solar preserve’, say adjacent to the BPA Harvalum Substation adjacent to John Day Dam. Each Public utility could then develop tracts or individual Racks on the Preserve as continued Subscriptions allow, sharing a common Transmission Interconnection. Fully developing this 10 square mile example could represent as much as 30MWh/day to serve load.

Acquiring property to host a Solar Array has delayed Utilities from offering Subscription opportunities for years at a time. By securing title to a large ‘solar preserve’, Utilities can make Community Solar Subscriptions an open window until sufficient generation is built to meet our growing loads and climate challenges. Ratepayers could be offered a ‘monthly purchase’ rider on their bills: While many can’t afford a multi-thousand-dollar one time investment, they could afford to buy $10 of solar a month. This also becomes a secure and safe investment opportunity for ratepayers to invest for their future as well as invest in their community today!

This amount of controllable, dispatchable power, once fully developed, would eliminate the need for Washington Utilities to depend on the market to meet peak demands and insulate ratepayers from prices orders of magnitude higher for energy.

A major policy advantage of this strategy is to revoke the current incentives provided for the installation of residential rooftop PV. This current incentive inordinately reimburses participating residential customers while also significantly complicating operation of the distribution system. Instead, the Utility can offer as much solar investment to members (Customers) to purchase ‘shares’ in the expanded Community Solar program. Note this represents a significant investment advantage to all Utility members and for the same dollar invested, the Member can purchase 140% of actual solar PV panels.

January 2024: This Changes Everything

One relatively simple change to existing statutory law will result in an equally robust increase in available solar energy: Treat Community Solar investments the same way we do Equities.

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gordon-matthews

Seasonal Energy Storage and the River Road Generating Plant (RRGP)

FUTURE PROOFING THE NORTHWEST ENERGY LANDSCAPE ﻿

Executive Summary

Introduction

Our Challenge

An Opportunity

Using Hydrogen

Implementation

title

From Miners to Farmers: Building the Right Things First

miners or farmers?

the catch: Energy doesn't arrive on schedule

Pumped Storage: Elegant, proven, Century-long

Goldendale: Right Topography, Wrong Process

Geothermal is the underrated bet

Nuclear: Answer the waste question

Bigger Than Clark

title

A Case For Community Solar Class Equities

Introduction

Utilities Provide 'Backstop' Repurchase of 'Stranded' CSPV Investment

CSPV Investments Avoid Cost of Rate-basing New (Renewables) Generation

State Government Effectively Controls Utilities through Regulation

January 2024: This Changes Everything

title

FUTURE PROOFING THE NORTHWEST ENERGY LANDSCAPE