Klamath Cogeneration Plant Earns ISO 14001 Registration

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of Iberdrola Renewables’ commitment to excellence throughout all of its operations, the company’s Klamath Cogeneration Plant and Klamath Peaking Plant recently earned ISO 14001 Environmental Management registration. This honor complements the plant’s and Iberdrola Renewables’ long track record of energy industry awards and honors, including Power Plant of the Year, OSHA VPP Star and the Sustainable Oregon Award.

“The process of becoming ISO 14001 registered was a worthwhile and valuable exercise for our team”

Specifically, the ISO 14001 registration puts the Southern Oregon plant among a worldwide group of energy producers that have passed the rigorous ISO audit, demonstrating conformance to the ISO Environmental Management Standard. This group includes Iberdrola S.A., the parent company of Portland, Ore.-based Iberdrola Renewables, Inc., internationally recognized for its environmental commitment, renewables business and listing in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

“The process of becoming ISO 14001 registered was a worthwhile and valuable exercise for our team,” said Ray Martens, plant managing director. “The changes we made to the way we organize and document what we do are very beneficial. Achieving ISO 14001 registration means we now have a world-class environmental operation within a company that expects world-class environmental performance.”

The company credits the Klamath team, which is built upon employees embracing plant processes. This has contributed to a stellar environmental, health and safety track record. The requirements of ISO registration fit well within many of the plant’s existing best practices and its strong environmental, health and safety culture. Nearly two-thirds of the team formerly served in the U.S. military, and managers credit their strong work ethic and adherence to procedures as crucial to maintaining the high standards of both ISO environmental registration and VPP health and safety certification.

“We have very good environmental practices in our company, and we’re well known for our industry-leading protection policies for birds and bats in our wind business. Klamath has won environmental awards in the past from its peer group, so the ISO 14001 registration was just the next step,” said Gary LeMoine, director of environment, health safety and security for Iberdrola Renewables. “The Klamath team has always been about doing things the right way, and the registration validates their system to protect the environment. For a small team, what they have accomplished has affected the rest of the company. They have a huge influence beyond the perimeters of their fence to make us all better.”

About the team

The operator of the plant is Pacific Klamath Energy Inc., (PKE), an Iberdrola Renewables, Inc. affiliate. Key members who contributed to the successful ISO registration are: Tim Kelly, plant EHS engineer and point person on environmental issues; Eric Burcham, senior plant technician, control room operator and plant librarian; Kathy Jordan, PKE assistant, who manages many plant records; and Greg Dolezal and Bruce Willard, PKE maintenance, operations and engineering managers respectively. In total, 21 men and women are on site to manage, maintain and operate the plant.

The ISO registration complements the Klamath plant’s existing and rigorous Star status with Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Association’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), also earned in 2011. The Klamath plant also has the Oregon OSHA distinction of working more than 300,000 hours without a recordable accident and has never had a lost time accident in its history. The team received Combined Cycle Journal’s Best Practices awards for operations and maintenance and safety equipment and systems in 2011. The plant is a long-time supporter of United Way in the Klamath Basin.

About the Klamath Cogeneration Plant

Iberdrola Renewables, Inc. worked closely with the City of Klamath Falls to develop the award-winning 536 megawatt (MW) Klamath Cogeneration Plant, one of the most energy-efficient, advanced gas-fired power plants in the West.

When commissioned in 2001, Klamath became the cleanest fossil-fueled power plant ever constructed in the United States in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, Klamath uses up to 3 million gallons per day of treated municipal wastewater provided by the City to meet 100 percent of its cooling needs. The highly flexible 100 MW Klamath Peaking Plant was added adjacent to the Cogeneration Plant to provide Iberdrola Renewables’ customers with additional capability to meet their peak summer and winter power needs.

As part of the company’s self-supply initiative, power from the Southern Oregon plant is also blended with wind and hydro power from Iberdrola Renewables’ portfolio to reliably and cost-effectively integrate wind generation into the electricity grid.

About Iberdrola Renewables

Iberdrola Renewables Inc. is headquartered in Portland, Ore., and currently operates more than 4,700 MW of wind and employs more than 850 people in the United States.

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