washington business
In Their Words
Formed by the state Legislature in 1957, Energy Northwest is a joint action agency serving the needs of its public power members by providing a diverse mix of reliable, low-cost and clean electricity, as well as services and new energy resource development. This year, the agency welcomed its new CEO, Brad Sawatzke, who brings with him a tremendous body of work over more than three decades in the energy sector, a career he happily admits was started by chance when he took entry-level jobs at Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant in his home state of Minnesota to pay for college. Just settling into his new role, Sawatzke spoke with staff writer Bobbi Cussins about the important role Energy Northwest plays in securing the energy needs of the region in a way that aligns with its environmental values; the culture of excellence he and his team improve upon every day; and what his experience in entry-level jobs taught him about leadership.
You have an impressive biography, but can you share with our readers one interesting fact they may not know about you?
I got started in the industry by chance. In all honesty, I did not come out of high school, as a young guy, thinking I wanted to work in the nuclear energy industry, but my home town, Monticello, has a nuclear plant. In between trying to go to college and earning some money, I ended up working as a construction laborer at Monticello [ Nuclear Generating Plant ] during one of their refueling outages. As part of that, I got to do some work for the in-house maintenance department and they offered me a starting job— a janitorial position. Having seen people there have great opportunities, I ended up taking the job and started as a janitor at the plant. I worked my way through the ranks over the years and finished college later in my career. Frankly, you learn a lot about leadership when you have a job at the bottom. It has always stuck with me what I learned about being a good leader as I was cleaning a person’ s office simply by how they treated me, the entry-level worker.
What is Energy Northwest’ s role in providing clean, affordable energy to Northwest employers and families?
We’ re proud to offer carbon-free power for our customers here in the Northwest. As part of our Energy Services Development group, we manage the Packwood Lake Hydroelectric Project. In addition to that team, we also manage additional hydro facilities, including Tieton and two facilities for the city of Portland. We also have our Nine Canyon Wind Project just south of Kennewick, where we generate about 96 megawatts of electricity. All of these are part of our“ green power,” or carbon-free energy portfolio. Of course, the largest producer of clean energy in our agency is the Columbia Generating Station [ nuclear energy facility ]. It produces slightly over 1,200 megawatts of carbon-free electricity. The other piece that Columbia brings to the table is that it’ s a baseload energy producer. When we talk about all the other carbonfree energy options in the Northwest— hydro, wind, solar— we’ re at the mercy of the elements, whether the wind is blowing, the sun is shining, or how much precipitation we’ ve received. At Columbia Generating Station, we’ re really the sole 24 / 7, 24-hoursa-day, seven-days-a-week facility available to provide power— clean power— to the Northwest. We see that baseload, or full-time, capability as a real niche and incredibly valuable to our customers.
Brad Sawatzke
How important is a diverse energy sector?
It’ s extremely important. The green footprint we have with hydro, wind and solar are certainly beneficial to the environment, but the diversity piece comes in with Columbia Generating Station and its baseload capacity to guarantee reliable energy around the clock. Diversity is also important because of all the different factors that drive production. When you get into gas-fired or coal-fired energy generation, the cost of that fuel can change. So, when you look at the overall energy mix, having that diversity, in case there’ s a challenge with the other sources, is incredibly important.
I was listening to a radio broadcast a couple of weeks ago and I wished I could have called in. The conversation centered around a city in Texas and they were going on and on about the fact that the only power they use is from wind and solar, so nothing but clean power. As I’ m listening, I’ m thinking,“ that’ s impossible.” One question that came in to the program was,“ What do you do in the middle of the night when it’ s dark out and the wind is not blowing?” The response was,“ Well, we overproduce during the day, so at night we get that power back.” Well, it doesn’ t work
22 association of washington business