Inland Power & Light Co., the Spokane-based electrical cooperative, says it plans to upgrade its transmission line through the town of Millwood if Inland Empire Paper Co. selects the cooperative to supply power to its paper plant there.


Inland Empire Paper, a producer of newsprint and other printing papers, has sought competitive bids from both its current power supplier, Avista Utilities Inc., of Spokane, and Inland Power to be the plants future power supplier. Wayne Andresen, president and general manager of the paper company, says that if the plant is to fire up a new paper-making machine on schedule, it will have to decide within the next two months which of the two utilities will be its power supplier. Inland Empire Paper currently is receiving and installing the new paper-making equipment and could begin operating it as soon as the fourth quarter of next year, he says. The equipment will enable the mill to increase its production.


Regardless of whether Avista or Inland is chosen to supply power to the mill, either utility would have to upgrade its transmission line through Millwood because the paper plant, which currently draws about 30 megawatts of power at a time, could draw as much as 90 megawatts once the new equipment has been in operation for awhile, Andresen says. He says that eventually, the mill would have fairly constant demand for 90 megawatts. That amount of power is more than five times as much electricity as is generated by the city of Spokanes Upriver Dam running at its full, 16.5-megawatt capacity.


Andresen says the paper mill is served by a 63-kilovolt and a 115-kilovolt line now, and its power supplier will need to add another 115-kilovolt line.


If Inland Power is selected, the electrical cooperative would upgrade its distribution line in Millwood to either a 115-kilovolt or 230-kilovolt transmission line that would extend south from Inlands Bigelow substation, located on Pleasant Prairie Road near Bigelow Gulch Road, to Inland Empire Papers substation in Millwood, says Richard Heitman, Inlands manager. As part of the project, workers would have to string the line across the Spokane River and into the town of Millwood. The Bigelow substation also would be expanded in the project, which in all would cost between $2 million and $4 million, he says.


Heitman says the transmission line likely would be a 115-kilovolt line, although Inland hasnt made a final decision on that. He says that if the paper mill doesnt select Inland as its power supplier, the cooperative wont have to upgrade its Millwood transmission line.


A shoreline substantial development permit, which is required for such a project, already has been approved by the Millwood Town Council, subject to certain conditions. So far, the decision hasnt been appealed to the Washington state Shorelines Hearings Board, but appeals will be accepted until May 4.