Understanding Energy in Montana Guide
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DEQ report updated for ETIC 2017-2018 Report originally prepared for EQC 2001-2002 understanding inMONTANA Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... i Introduction ...................................................................................................................iii Comments on the Data ............................................................................................... iv Glossary ......................................................................................................................... v Executive Summaries ........................................................................................... Sum 1 Electricity Supply and Demand in Montana .............................................................. 1 Utility Deregulation in Montana ................................................................................. 10 Hydropower in Montana ............................................................................................ 18 Coal-fired electric generation In Montana ............................................................. 23 Wind Energy in Montana ............................................................................................ 25 Solar Power in Montana ............................................................................................. 29 Biomass, Methane and Landfill Generation in Montana ...................................... 33 Distributed Generation in Montana ......................................................................... 35 Energy Effeciency in Montana .................................................................................. 39 Montana’s Electric Transmission and Distribution Grid ............................................ 43 Coal Production in Montana ...................................................................................... 69 Natural Gas in Montana ............................................................................................. 79 Petroleum and Petroleum Products in Montana ...................................................... 97 Prepared by the Department of Environmental Quality for the 2017-2018 Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee Section Authors: Jeff Blend – Electricity Supply and Demand Sonja Nowakowski – Utility Deregulation Kyla Maki – Hydropower Dan Lloyd – Coal-Fired Generation Kyla Maki – Wind Energy Ben Brouwer – Solar Power Kyla Maki – Biomass, Methane, and Landfill Generation Ben Brouwer – Distributed Generation Kyla Maki – Energy Efficiency Jeff Blend – Montana’s Electric Transmission Grid Jeff Blend – Coal Production Jeff Blend – Natural Gas Dan Lloyd – Petroleum ETIC Project Coordinator: Trevor Graff i ii Introduction Montana energy issues continue on a dynamic course of change, garnering significant public scrutiny in the state. In the more than 20 years since the decision to deregulate Montana’s electricity supply, consumers have witnessed the bankruptcy and reemergence of NorthWestern Energy (NWE), the Baaken Shale boom, growth in renewable energy resources, a changing coal industry, changing electric generation portfolios, and heightened discussion of climate change’s effect on the environment. The Environmental Quality Council first prepared this guide in 2002. It was revised in 2004, 2010, and 2014. The Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee (ETIC) in 2017 agreed to again revise the guide to provide the most up-to- date background information available to the policymakers and citizens of Montana. The 2017- 2018 guide includes a restructured electricity section to better reflect the current nature of electricity generation in the state. Special thanks should be extended to the DEQ, particularly Jeff Blend, Dan Lloyd, and the section authors listed at the front of this guide. Their work in preparing information and compiling statistics was integral to the publishing of this document. The guide focuses on recent and historical trends in energy supply and demand. It is divided into five sections. The first is an overview of electricity supply and demand in Montana. The section is further divided into chapters concerning each of the generating resources in the state. The second section details the electric transmission grid, how it works and the future of transmission capacity in the state. A third section addresses natural gas supply and demand. The fourth section covers the coal industry in Montana, detailing the mining history of the state and the future of coal in Montana. The final section of the book addresses the state’s petroleum production and refining industry in the state. The revised guide provides readers both historical and current perspective on the energy sector in Montana. Emerging resources like distributed generation and energy efficiency programs are discussed along with conventional generation in an effort to provide a holistic look at the changing industry. iii Comments on the Data Data for this guide comes from several sources, which don’t always agree. This is due to slightly different data definitions and methods of data collection. The reader should always consider the source and context of specific data. iv Glossary General British Thermal Unit (Btu): A standard Industrial Sector: Energy consumed unit of energy equal to the quantity by facilities and equipment used for of heat required to raise the producing, processing, or temperature of 1 pound of water by assembling goods. It encompasses 1 degree Fahrenheit (f). manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, mining, including Cogeneration or Cogenerators: A oil and gas extraction, and process that sequentially produces construction. useful energy (thermal or mechanical) and electricity from the Residential Sector: Energy consumed same energy sources. by private household establishments primarily for space heating, water Customer Class: A group of heating, air conditioning, cooking, customers with similar characteristics lighting, and clothes drying. (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial, sales for resale) identified Transportation Sector: Energy for the purpose of setting a utility consumed to move people and rate structure. commodities in the public and private sectors, including military, Demand-Side Management: Utility railroad, vessel bunkering, and activities designed to reduce marine uses, as well as the pipeline customer use of natural gas or transmission of natural gas. electricity or change the time pattern of use in ways that will Fossil Fuel: Any naturally occurring produce desired changes in the fuel of an organic nature, such as utility load. coal, crude oil, and natural gas. Fuel: Any substance that, for the purpose Commercial Sector: Energy of producing energy, can be consumed by service-providing burned, otherwise chemically facilities and business equipment. It combined, or split or fused in a includes federal, state, and local nuclear reaction. governments; other private and public organizations, such as Renewable Energy: Energy obtained religious, social, or fraternal groups; from sources that are essentially and institutional living quarters. sustainable (unlike, for example, the fossil fuels, of which there is a finite v supply). Sources of renewable Net Electric Generation: Gross energy include wood, waste, solar generation less the electric energy radiation, falling water, wind, and consumed at the generating station geothermal heat. for station use. (Energy required for pumping at pumped-storage plants Short Ton: A unit of weight equal to is regarded as plant use and is 2,000 pounds. All tonnages used in subtracted from the gross this guide are in short tons. generation and from hydroelectric Electricity Supply and Demand generation.) Average Megawatt (aMW): A unit of Hydroelectric Power Station: A plant energy output over a specified time in which the turbine generators are period. For a year, it is equivalent to driven by falling water. the total energy in megawatt-hours Kilowatt (kW): One thousand watts. divided by 8,760 (the number of The kW is the basic unit of hours in a year). measurement of electric power. Capacity: The amount of electric Kilowatt-hour (kWh): One thousand power that a generator, turbine, watt-hours. The kWh is the basic unit transformer, transmission circuit, of measurement of electric energy station, or system is capable of and is equivalent to 3,412 Btu. producing or delivering. Load (Electric): The amount of Demand: The rate at which electric electric power required by energy is delivered to a system, part equipment in use at a given time at of a system, or piece of equipment any specific point or points on a at a given instant or during a system. designated period of time (see Load). vii Megawatt (MW): One million watts. Generation (Electric): The production Megawatt-hour (MWh): One million of electric energy from other forms watt- hours. of energy; also, the amount of Nameplate Capacity: The full-load electric energy produced, expressed continuous rating of a generator, in kilowatt-hours. prime mover, or other electrical Gross Generation: The total amount equipment under specified of electric energy produced by the conditions as designated by the generating units in a generating manufacturer. Installed station station or stations, measured at the capacity does not include auxiliary generator terminals. or house units. Nameplate capacity is usually shown on the manufacturer's identification plate vi attached