At January’s Council meeting, senior BPA officials presented the results of their 2024 Resource Program, a planning exercise to assess what conservation and generation resources BPA may need to add in the near future, as well as early thinking for the agency’s 2026 Resource Program.
At January’s meeting, Power Director Jennifer Light and General Counsel John Shurts provided the Council with a roadmap to the upcoming process to developing the Ninth Northwest Power Plan and the major steps required by the Northwest Power Act.
The Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement represents a series of commitments between the federal government and regional entities.
At its January meeting, the Council voted to recommend that Bonneville fund $19M in requests for nonrecurring maintenance of fish screens in FY2025-FY2027.
Staff presented progress on the Fish and Wildlife Program, including tracking positive trends in total abundance in the Columbia River Basin and an increase in salmon and steelhead migrating past Bonneville Dam.
Power Division staff are currently working on an updated load forecast for the Northwest power system – including data centers, chip fabrication facilities, and the tech sector – and expect to have it ready by spring 2025. At its December meeting, the Council convened a panel of experts to discuss the energy needs of data centers, including what potential they may or may not have to be efficient and flexible.
Power Division Director Jennifer Light recently sat down with Olympia-based public affairs network TVW to discuss the Council’s role in regional power planning as Washington state navigates decarbonization changes while ensuring the Pacific Northwest’s power system stays adequate, efficient, economical, and reliable. The episode is now airing.
The Tucannon River – a tributary of the Snake River flowing out of the Blue Mountains – sustains the only remaining population of spring Chinook in the lower Snake, which was listed as threatened under the ESA in 1992.
The Council, the CRITFC, and NOAA invite nominations by January 31 to establish a pool of qualified candidates interested in potential appointment to the Independent Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) and/or the Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP).
During the Council’s November meeting, representatives from Bonneville Power Administration reported making progress on acquiring target amounts of cost-effective energy efficiency by 2027.
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