News

One of the most important commitments to fish in the Council’s new, 2014 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program has the distinction of being absolutely vital yet almost impossibly complex and, at first blush, intensely bureaucratic.

The Council’s Power Planning Division staff is developing the Seventh Power Plan resource strategy, essentially a blueprint for acquiring generating resources and energy efficiency to meet future demand for electricity.

In October, the Council approved the latest version of its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, revised every five years. Now the Council is beginning to discuss how it will be implemented.

Last April, a study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy and conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory identified the Pacific Northwest as having the greatest potential for new hydroelectric development in the country -- 25,226 megawatts of new

The Council’s power committee met recently to hear about energy trends for plug-in electric vehicles, data centers, utility-scale solar energy, and combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plants. The information will help in developing its Seventh Power Plan.

Two projects that aim to improve survival of steelhead and burbot the upper Columbia River Basin are moving ahead.

The Council’s power plans begin with the premise that the future is uncertain and we can’t really predict what will happen. Managing that risk is central to the Council’s approach to resource planning. Prior to the Council’s formation, this

The Council's advisory committees bring outside advice and diverse perspectives about future energy needs to the work of developing a regional power plan. Committee members come from a variety of organizations, including utilities, state regulatory commissions, tribes, and public interest

The Council uses an integrated resource planning model, called the regional portfolio model, to identify adaptive, least-cost resource strategies for the region.

Relatively low wholesale power prices are forecast to continue, a result of low-cost hydopower and wind generation, flat load growth, and low natural gas prices.The Council's 20-year forecast region is used in developing its regional power plan.