Articles by Peter Jensen

In a wide-ranging conversation, BPA Administrator John Hairston presented to the Council during its July meeting on topics including a new record high for energy demand that BPA reached earlier this month, and a new agreement in principle on amendments to the Columbia River Treaty between the U.S. and Canada.

June's Council meeting in Helena featured presentations by Montana electric co-operatives, Bonneville Power Administration, and Power Division staff.

The U.S. government is modifying hydropower operations on the lower Snake and lower Columbia rivers, providing more hours of spill in the spring and curtailing spill operations in August. In preparation for an upcoming adequacy assessment, Council staff incorporated these changes in modeling to understand the impact to power generation.

Power demand forecasts are showing significant increases in the Pacific Northwest over the next five years, and the Council is closely monitoring the region’s progress on key targets from its 2021 Power Plan and analyzing whether that will ensure that the power supply is keeping pace.

Meeting the Pacific Northwest’s growing need for power with a shifting mix of energy resources will be a major undertaking on its own. Balancing supply with demand, however, is only one part of the challenge for the Council’s power planning efforts.

The public can help inform early preparations for the Council’s next power plan, and guide formation of an advisory committee on the impacts of climate change and extreme weather on the Pacific Northwest’s power system.

New data on electric vehicles, data centers, and computer chip manufacturing suggests a shifting trend. Power demand in these sectors is growing, and over the next five years this demand could grow substantially.