Capacity shortages in the PNW are predicted and often discussed. Here is a recent article discussing the role that the Bonneville Power Administration will play in meeting the growing demand:
“While “energy crisis” is an overused term, recent estimates show the Pacific Northwest could face a 30 percent increase in electricity demand over the next decade. Data center expansions, high-tech manufacturing growth, and a shift from natural gas toward electricity are some factors driving the trend. Historically, the region has looked to the Bonneville Power Administration to meet energy demand. The BPA sells power at the wholesale level to utilities. This energy is produced at 31 federally operated dams, one nuclear plant and other smaller power plants around the Northwest.
The problem is that a 1980 law has long-handicapped the BPA. And the degree the BPA will be able to help meet the region’s electricity needs in the years ahead will depend on the Northwest’s members of Congress getting re-engaged around the agency. The delegation has largely ignored BPA for decades, rendering it little more than a minion of the Department of Energy. If this continues, a bad situation will only get worse. The Northwest Power Act, approved in 1980, currently governs BPA. It was enacted because BPA in 1974 issued a “notice of insufficiency,” meaning it could not meet customer’s needs.
The act was doomed from the start because it limits BPA’s flexibility to address our situation. The statute creating the BPA allowed discretion to “provide a reliable power supply.” And this authority could have been used to deal with the predicted power crunch in the 1970s. BPA’s policy leadership rejected this authority, wary of litigation risks. The Northwest Power Act, with its provisions geared toward helping fish and wildlife affected by hydroelectric dams, was sold to end lawsuits against BPA by environmentalists. But it brought even more litigation.
The first lesson to be gleaned from BPA’s history is you can’t predict the future. In time, just as the aluminum companies moved on, so too could the server and crypto facilities. I propose Congress reconsider the Columbia Valley Authority, a legislative proposal made by President Harry Truman, and then Congressman Henry “Scoop” Jackson in April 1949 but killed by Congress because of the fear of too much federal control. The CVA would have a presidentially appointed board and a chief executive. It would integrate and boost power, environmental and economic development interests. A similar model has worked well in other regions. We should take a closer look at it.” (The Columbian, J Luce, 9.21.24)
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