The Bonneville Power Administration on Tuesday proposed $3 billion in transmission construction, including 500-kV projects across Oregon and Washington.
The projects would accommodate regional load growth and enable BPA to add thousands of megawatts of wind and solar generation as well as battery storage to its system, the federal power marketer said in a press release.
“BPA continues to answer the call to meet the region’s transmission needs driven by electrification, clean energy goals and growing energy demand,” BPA Administrator and CEO John Hairston said.
The BPA operates about 22.4 GW of hydroelectric dams in the Northwest and owns about 15,000 circuit miles of transmission.
The proposed projects grew out of BPA’s Transmission Service Request Study and Expansion Process 2023 cluster study, according to the federal power marketer. They will undergo scoping and then move to preliminary engineering next year, the BPA said.
The projects include a 500-kV line that would run from northern Oregon through the central part of the state to the border with Nevada. Another project would upgrade transmission lines to 500-kV in Washington.
Renewable Northwest, a clean energy advocacy group, is supporting the BPA’s planned transmission projects. “These investments will help bring much needed clean energy to customers throughout the region,” Nicole Hughes, Renewable Northwest executive director, said in the BPA’s press release.
Including its latest set of proposed projects, the BPA said it is working on more than 20 proposed transmission expansion projects that could cost about $5 billion.
The BPA plans to hold a public meeting on Oct. 17 to discuss its latest proposal.
The BPA’s plan to bolster its transmission system comes amid wholesale market development in the West, with the federal power marketer weighing whether to join a day-ahead market that would be run by the California Independent System Operator or one that would be run by the Southwest Power Pool. The BPA staff in April recommended the agency join the SPP’s planned market. The BPA expects to make a final decision on which market to join in May.
The BPA is holding a workshop on the markets issue on Nov. 4.
