Bonneville Power Administration

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is a US self-financed federal agency headquartered in Portland, Oregon which transmits and sells wholesale electricity to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana. A part of the U.S. Department of Energy, the BPA was created in 1937 to provide the hydroelectricity generated from Bonneville Dam and, later, Grand Coulee Dam; as of 2004, it still provides about half the electricity used in the region.

Related Topics:
US - Federal - Portland, Oregon - Electricity - Washington - Oregon - Idaho - Montana - U.S. Department of Energy - 1937 - Hydroelectricity - Bonneville Dam - Grand Coulee Dam - As of 2004

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The BPA now markets the electricity from thirty-one hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River and her tributaries, as well as the Columbia Generating Station located on the Hanford Site. It has more than 15,000 miles of electrical lines and 300 substations in the Pacific Northwest and controls approximately 75 percent of the transmission lines in the region. The BPA also maintains connection lines with other power grids in Canada and the southwestern United States.

Related Topics:
Hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River - Columbia Generating Station - Hanford Site - Pacific Northwest - Power grid - Canada - Southwestern United States

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The power generated on the BPA's grid is sold to public utilities, private utilities, and industry on the grid. The excess is sold to other grids in Canada, California and other regions. Because they are a public entity, they do not make a profit on the power sold or from providing transmission services. They also coordinate with the Corps to regulate flow of water in the Columbia River and take on environmental projects such as salmon replenishment.

Related Topics:
California - Salmon

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Currently, the BPA is taking part in a process to create an organization that would oversee the operations of the entire Northwest electric-transmission grid system. The plan, called Grid West, would create a so-called Regional Transmission Organization (RTO). The move to create an RTO was at the behest of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) which required all regions of the United States to establish an RTO, an Independent System Operator (ISO) in an effort to establish Standard Market Design (SMD) structure. When Pat Wood III stepped down as Chairman of FERC, the new Chairman, Joseph Kelliher pronounced the end of SMD efforts though RTOs are alive and well.

Related Topics:
Grid West - Regional Transmission Organization - Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

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Grid West is a contentious issue in the Northwest where there are many publically owned utilities, most of which are against the concept because they feel that it will limit their market independence from what many see as an overbearing government agency (I.E.: FERC). The BPA, on the other hand, is in mostly in favor of the concept largely because they are currently forced to pay for the majority of transmission upgrades by incurring debt. In contrast, private transmission owners such as Avista Corp. and Puget Sound Energy (both investor owned utilities) are not required to do the same, even though the region is faced with a severe shortage of transmission capacity.

Related Topics:
Avista - Puget Sound Energy

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The BPA says that it is open to the idea that Grid West may not be the best method to fixing the region's transmission issues and is examining alternatives including fixing transmission issues on its own.

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