BPA sets up website to monitor power consumption

As Portland wades through its first heat wave of the year, the Bonneville Power Administration has set up a website to give the public a glimpse at demands on the power grid.

The website shows current power consumption (red line) and the supply of hydro power (green line), thermal power such as coal plants (brown line) and wind power (blue line).

The BPA is a nonprofit that operates 31 dams on the Columbia River and supplies power to parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.

It markets more than a third of the electricity consumed in the Pacific Northwest.