NORTHWEST POWER AND CONSERVATION
COUNCIL
December 4, 2012
Meeting by Webinar, the Council massaged the messages for the draft Mid-term Assessment of the Sixth Power
Plan, now set to be released for comment later this month. The Resource Adequacy Forum’s report, which
underscores the region’s need for capacity, was approved for posting on the Council’s website. And a new Fish
and Wildlife Program amendment process will kick off in the spring. Next Meeting: January 15-16 in Portland.
IN THIS ISSUE
Mid-term Assessment Will be a New Year’s Baby .......................................................................... 1 Deck the Website with Adequacy Tidings ....................................................................................... 2 I’m Dreaming of a New F&W Program ........................................................................................... 2 Ten Sturgeon Spawning, Nine Burbot Swimming ........................................................................... 2 THE AGENDA______
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Mid-term Assessment Will be a
New Year’s Baby
The Power Committee had a lengthy discussion this
morning about the “pre-draft” report on the Midterm Assessment of the Sixth Power Plan, staffer
Charlie Black told the Council. We will incorporate
the Council’s advice today into a draft report, which
the Power Committee will review, he said. Council
members will be asked, by telephone or Webinar, to
approve release of the draft for review around
December 18, Black stated. The Council will take
comments on the draft at its January meeting, the
comment period will last until late January, and a
decision on the final report could be made in
February, he said.
We will also continue the stakeholder outreach
process we’ve had going on throughout the summer
and fall, Black told the Council. I’ve met with Dick
Adams of PNUCC, and he has already reserved time
for a discussion about the draft report at PNUCC’s
January board meeting, Black said. We plan more
meetings with a variety of groups in the region, he
added. There has been a lot more input on this
document than there has been with other things the
Council has done in the past, observed Jim Yost.
The purpose of the assessment is to determine if we
are on track in implementing the Sixth Power Plan,
Black stated. He went over the nine chapters of the
assessment, noting some of its key concepts. The
report highlights the new emphasis in system
planning on meeting peaking capacity and system
flexibility needs, rather than just energy needs,
Black said. The report points out that the character
of the Northwest power system is changing and that
there are significant differences among the region’s
utilities, he stated.
There’s a stronger linkage today between natural gas
and power system planning because of greater
dependence on gas for electricity generation, Black
The convergence of power and transmission
planning and power and natural gas planning mark a
long-term shift of focus for us, said Phil Rockefeller.
We will be more obliged to integrate factors that in
the past were considered minor to our efforts, he
added. This is an excellent overview, Rockefeller
told Black.
said. The report also reflects the Adequacy Forum’s
conclusion that for the first time, the region is facing
the need for new resources to maintain its adequacy
standard, he noted, adding, “that’s a landmark
change.”
The report will contain updated forecasts and
recommend the Council annually update its
electricity demand, natural gas, and wholesale price
forecasts, Black stated. The Power Committee has
pointed out wholesale prices aren’t providing the
right incentives to induce the building of new
resources for peaking capacity and system
flexibility, he said.
Deck the Website with
Adequacy Tidings
The Council approved the Northwest Resource
Adequacy Forum’s power supply adequacy
assessment for 2017 for release to the public. The
report, which indicates the region will have to
acquire additional resources in the next five years to
maintain a reliable power supply, will be posted on
the Council’s website.
The report concludes the region is “on course” in
implementing the Sixth Plan, Black noted, with
energy efficiency acquisitions in 2010 and 2011
exceeding the plan’s goals and that the 1,200 aMW
goal for 2010-2014 “appears within reach.”
I’m Dreaming of a New
F&W Program
Topics the assessment suggests the Seventh Power
Plan address include planning for capacity and
flexibility needs and the shifting paradigm for
energy efficiency, he reported. The possibility of
continued slow growth in demand could affect
utilities’ resource and business plans, Black stated.
The committee said the next plan should scrutinize
the Council’s metrics for determining the costeffectiveness of conservation, as well as
disincentives for distributed generation and demand
response programs utilities experience as a result of
BPA power sales contracts, he said. Other topics
include greenhouse gas emissions and the
convergence of power and transmission planning
and power and natural gas planning, Black noted.
It’s time for the Council to begin thinking about
amending its Fish and Wildlife (F&W) Program,
which was last amended in 2009, staffer Patty
O’Toole said. The Council needs to revise the F&W
program before starting work on the Seventh Power
Plan, she noted. We estimate the power plan draft
would come out in the fall of 2014 so we think the
F&W process should begin this spring, O’Toole
stated. Our schedule envisions releasing a draft
F&W program in November 2013, with a final
adopted by April 2014, she said.
Bill Bradbury asked about the “shifting paradigm for
energy efficiency.” We’ve heard that energy
efficiency is affected by “where a utility is situated,”
replied Black. The economics of acquiring energy
efficiency are different for a public utility that is
below its BPA Tier 1 allocation than a utility above
Tier 1 and into Tier 2, and there are also differences
for investor-owned utilities, he said. We are looking
at how energy efficiency might contribute to
meeting peaking capacity and system flexibility
needs, and whether efficiency efforts can be targeted
to areas with greater transmission constraints, Black
added.
December 11, 2012
Ten Sturgeon Spawning,
Nine Burbot Swimming
The Council approved a request from the Kootenai
Tribe of Idaho for its White Sturgeon Aquaculture
Conservation Project, with conditions, including that
construction cost estimates do not exceed $16.6
million. The program aims to increase the
populations of two native species, the white sturgeon
and the burbot, by upgrading existing facilities and
building a new hatchery.
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