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News Release
State-of-the-art recycling saves millions of dollars for Northwest electric customers - 11/08/19

MEDIA ADVISORY — Nov. 8, 2019

Who:   The Bonneville Power Administration

What:   Tour of BPA’s award-winning recycling program and mechanical laboratory in recognition of the upcoming National Recycling Day

Where: The Bonneville Power Administration’s Ross Complex, ABC parking lot located south of the Ross Complex at NE Ross St, Vancouver, WA 98663

When:  Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019

Time:    1 to 3 p.m.      

For security purposes, please RSVP to David Wilson at 503-230-5607 by noon Tuesday, Nov. 12.      

 

Vancouver, Wash. The Bonneville Power Administration’s innovative approach to recycling saved northwest electric ratepayers nearly $3 million in 2018, and the agency projects even more savings in 2019. The agency’s sustainability efforts – from recycling transmission conductor and tower parts to auctioning off used equipment – have won national awards.

On Thursday, Nov. 14, BPA invites members of the media to tour its Investment Recovery Center and the Mechanical Lab. Visitors will see a machine that uses choppers and magnets to separate and recover aluminum and steel from used transmission wire. Since March of 2018, the machine has recovered more than 750,000 pounds of aluminum valued at $700,000.

Those on tour will also experience a mechanical testing lab and a corona and arc flashover that ends with a boom. Visitors are also invited to watch BPA lab engineers test and break a piece of high-voltage transmission wire.

Background: In 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honored BPA with the Federal Green Challenge Materials Management Award. The EPA is honoring BPA again in 2019 for its outstanding sustainability efforts and care for the environment.

About BPA: The Bonneville Power Administration, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is a nonprofit federal power marketer that sells wholesale, carbon-free hydropower from 31 federal dams in the Columbia River Basin. It also markets the output of the region’s only nuclear plant. BPA delivers this power to more than 140 Northwest electric utilities, serving millions of consumers and businesses in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana and parts of California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. BPA also owns and operates more than 15,000 circuit miles of high-voltage power lines and 262 substations, and provides transmission service to more than 500 customers. In all, BPA provides nearly a third of the power generated in the Northwest. To mitigate the impacts of the federal dams, BPA implements a fish and wildlife program that includes working with its partners to make the federal dams safer for fish passage. It also pursues cost-effective energy savings and operational solutions that help maintain safe, affordable, reliable electric power for the Northwest. www.bpa.gov

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