Filling the gaps in Oregon’s energy future

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There’s a lot of energy around energy these days, and that’s good: Energy production and use is fundamental to the health of our economy and our planet.

This is evident in the work that’s been done on these issues in Oregon and the nation, including development of Oregon’s renewable energy goals, increased support and funding for capture of energy efficiency, and major progress toward economy-wide Congressional action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. These are initiatives that matter to Oregon and Oregonians because they will have a tremendous impact on both our environment and our economy. Portland General Electric is naturally active in these discussions. We know we need to continually look for more cost-effective ways to provide our customers with reliable and affordable electricity while reducing its environmental impact.

That’s the context for the resource plan we submitted in November, 2009 to the Oregon Public Utility Commission. We shared this plan in advance with our stakeholders and the public and tried to integrate their input while balancing sometimes conflicting priorities for environmental impact, cost and reliability. The resulting plan describes our recommendation for the best mix of resources to generate the electricity our customers need.

The plan first targets actions to help our customers manage their energy use. We expect to meet nearly half of PGE’s load growth from now through 2020 by pursuing aggressive energy efficiency measures. Beyond that, we will target new renewable resources to meet the state’s renewable power goals on or ahead of schedule.

The plan also proposes adding new, high-efficiency natural gas-fired plants with state-of-the-art equipment and pollution controls to generate the electricity needed to meet Oregon’s growing energy needs. These plants will help serve demand and back up renewable resources when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining.

In addition, we’ve proposed a new transmission line that will help ensure reliability, meet Oregon’s growing energy needs and provide access to renewable energy resources east of the Cascades.

In the resource plan filed in November, PGE proposed installing new controls on our Boardman coal-fired plant that would allow us to continue operating this low-cost source of electricity through 2040 – the best option available for our customers under current state rules. After further review, we have decided to pursue an alternative plan under which the plant will either cease operations in 2020 or discontinue use of coal as a fuel source. We believe this plan could reduce costs and risks for our customers while providing time to bring reliable replacement resources online. We’ll need changes in state rules and help from our stakeholders to accomplish this, and will spend the coming weeks completing our analysis and engaging stakeholders to gain support for a 2020 plan.

The OPUC process ultimately seeks to develop a “least-cost” plan that balances the competing economic and environmental mandates and choices we face. I believe our recent decision to pursue an alternative plan for our Boardman plant is a good example of our efforts to achieve this balance.

Competing demands, priorities, and preferences make for tough decisions, and we look forward to a healthy public discussion of the merits of our plan. That’s a discussion we can start by acknowledging that all of us are united in wanting to make the right thing happen, even if we sometimes disagree on the best way to get there. How we ultimately fill in the gaps in Oregon’s energy future will affect your business and Oregon's economy, so take the opportunity in the coming months to comment on proposed rules or actions that are likely to be in front of government decision makers like the Oregon Public Utility Commission, the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission, Congress or the Oregon Legislature.

For more information about the resource plan, visit: http://www.portlandgeneral.com/our_company/news_issues/current_issues/energy_strategy/default.aspx

Dave Robertson oversees PGE’s Corporate Communications, Government Relations, Environmental Policy and Community Affairs departments as vice president of Public Policy. He's also on the SOLV board of directors and served six years as an Oregon Governor’s appointee to the Columbia River Gorge Commission.