September 3, 2009

The Council is requesting public comment on its Draft Sixth Power Plan. The plan is an energy blueprint to assure that the region will have an adequate, efficient, economical, and reliable power supply. In formulating the final Sixth Power Plan, the Council may choose to modify the draft plan after carefully considering all of the public comments submitted.

The key findings of the draft plan include:

• Energy-efficiency could meet 58 percent of the new demand for power in the five-year period between 2010 and 2014.
• Energy-efficiency or conservation is the most cost-effective and least-risky resource available and could meet 85 percent of the Northwest’s load growth for the next 20 years
• Wind generation is the leading resource in the near term to meet renewable portfolio standards in Washington, Oregon, and Montana, and the Council also encourages development of other small-scale, cost-effective renewable resources
• Natural gas-fired plants, both combined-cycle turbines and simple-cycle turbines, also are cost-effective options for additional energy, capacity, and flexibility
• Long-term strategies include imported wind power, emerging renewable technologies, demand-response programs, and storage technologies

The Council is interested in your comments on all aspects of the plan. In particular, the Council would appreciate comments specific to the following issues:

1. Rising prices of electricity over the next 20 years and ways that utilities can help to reduce the effect on their customers’ monthly bills, including development of conservation, renewable resources, and demand-response programs;
2. Load-growth projections for the region - short-term (2010-2015), medium-term (2010-2020) and long-term (2020-2030) – and the extent to which the Council’s economic forecasts adequately incorporate uncertainty;
3. Conservation targets, the feasibility of achieving those targets, and major sources of uncertainty in achieving them;
4. The analysis and evaluation in the Plan regarding future capacity needs and the resources to meet peak load demands in the winter and summer;
5. Integration of wind power into the region’s power system and incorporation into the plan of strategies and resources necessary to meet projected future wind power development; and,
6. The adequacy of energy and capacity resources, reliability of the regional power system, and appropriate measures of each.

The Council released the Draft Sixth Power Plan, including Appendix F (Model Conservation Standards), for public review (see hearings schedule) and a 60-day comment period. The staff draft appendices are on the Council’s website for public review and comment. The comment period ends on November 6, 2009.

You can request a printed copy of the plan by calling 1-800-452-5161 and asking for document number 2009-12.

The Draft Sixth Power Plan page will have the latest updates on the draft plan’s development, including specific locations and times of the hearings.

Thank you for your interest in the Council and for your participation.

Sincerely,

Bill Booth, Chair