BPA has decided to purchase electrical power to be generated by a privately-owned gas-fired combustion turbine (CT) plant in the Frederickson Industrial Area, Pierce County, Washington. The proposed Tenaska Washington R Generation Project (Tenaska Project) would produce 240 average megawatts (aMW) of electrical energy and would be developed and operated by Tenaska Washington Partners II, L.P. (Tenaska), a developer of generation resources. BPA expects the Tenaska Project to be in commercial operation by July 1996. BPA has statutory responsibilities to supply electrical power to its utility, industrial and other customers in the Pacific Northwest. The Tenaska Project is needed to meet electrical power supply obligations of these customers. The Tenaska Project would also meet a number of other system requirements. Included among these is firming otherwise non-firm hydroelectric power so that it can be sold as higher value firm power. The Tenaska Project offers an energy resource which can provide BPA the flexibility to operate an increasingly constrained hydro system.