Puget Sound Energy announced Jan. 21 a carbon reduction plan setting an aspirational goal of being a "Beyond Net Zero Carbon Company by 2045" that includes having net-zero carbon emissions for electric operations and supply by 2030 and being 100 percent carbon-free by 2045.
PNGC Power is calling for the region to begin working to establish a Northwest regional transmission organization/independent system operator.
Puget Sound Energy's draft 2021 integrated resource plan has some eye-popping numbers in its myriad projections: nearly 1 million electric vehicles; 4,462 MW of renewable resources; 750 MW of battery storage.
An atmospheric river that caught forecasters off guard swept across the Pacific Northwest starting late on Jan. 12, leaving landslides, flooding, snapped trees, downed power lines, and extensive outages in its wake.
The first of TransAlta's two 670 MW coal-fired plants in Centralia permanently shut down on Dec. 31, per a 2011 agreement with Washington as part of ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state.
"Urgency" is the word of the day as the California ISO rushes to put in place a series of market rules and procedural changes before the searing heat of another California summer drives up power demand.
A minor provision in a major spending bill that passed Congress Dec. 21 and was later signed into law may be the first step in removing power generation from federal obligations at three of the Willamette Valley Project's 13 dams.
Oregon came in ninth place again in the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's (ACEEE) 2020 state scorecard released Dec. 16, while Washington dropped out of the top 10, falling one spot to 11th.
New sensor technology and predictive models employing machine-learning methods under development by Chelan County PUD already are showing how they can reduce forced outages and unnecessary maintenance for the utility's hydropower fleet. One tool already is in beta testing, while others are i…
A wave of coal retirements means the Northwest faces a 15 percent chance emergency action will be required to keep the lights on at least once in 2025, according to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's preliminary regional resource adequacy assessment.
Portland General Electric and Daimler Trucks North America announced on Dec. 1 they will co-develop a public charging station for medium- and heavy-duty electric commercial vehicles that is expected to be the first of its kind in the U.S.
Puget Sound Energy announced Dec. 1 its Green Direct customers are receiving generation from the 136.8 MW Skookumchuck wind facility, on the same day TransAlta completed acquisition of a 49 percent stake in the project.
There are sufficient resources nationwide to maintain reliable electricity supply, but there are fuel supply concerns for New England and California, the nation's reliability organization said in a new report.
Portland General Electric on Nov. 18 announced an ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goal that commits it to acquiring only noncarbon emitting energy resources over the next 20 years.
For the first time, LEDs became the majority product in the Northwest nonresidential lighting sector in 2019, when they accounted for 52 percent of unit sales, according to an annual survey published in September and conducted by BPA and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.
Chelan County PUD is fine-tuning a plan to stamp out "heat or eat" situations, in which a customer may face a choice between paying a power bill and buying groceries or other necessities.
Installing carbon-capture technology at Montana's Colstrip coal-fired power plant would cost about $1.3 billion upfront, plus about $100 million in annual upkeep and operating expenses, according to a recently acquired 2018 study commissioned by U.S. DOE's Office of Fossil Energy.
A surprise drop in frequency and voltage on the Pacific DC Intertie on Sept. 6 may have caused a spike in blood pressure among grid operators, but fail-safe mechanisms on the California-Oregon Intertie kicked in and successfully protected the grid.
Arch Coal announced Oct. 22 it plans to slash its mining operations in the Powder River Basin and look to sell some of its assets, dealing another potential economic blow to Wyoming coal country.
Washington regulators want Puget Sound Energy to come back in the spring with a new all-resource generation request for proposals aimed at moving the utility toward complying with the state's clean energy mandates.
A next-generation nuclear resource is closer to becoming reality after a recent infusion of funds from the U.S. Department of Energy and the support of 32 Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems members that have committed to continue their participation in the Carbon Free Power Project, a 7…
At 11:56 a.m. on Oct. 15, the coal-fired Boardman Generating Station generated its last megawatt, and was taken permanently off line by Portland General Electric.
Environmentalists and the hydropower industry will work together to address the impacts of climate change by promoting the renewable energy and storage benefits of hydropower and the environmental and economic benefits of healthy rivers, according to a deal brokered by Stanford University.
Idaho Power could completely exit the North Valmy coal-fired plant by the end of 2022, three years earlier than previously planned, according to the latest amendment of its integrated resource plan.
Energy Northwest has been tapped to help develop next-generation nuclear power plants based on two different technologies.
Climate change-induced extreme heat, a failure to meet planning targets and certain practices in the day-ahead electricity market were the main factors in California's rolling blackouts in mid-August, a multiagency report says.
The Northwest is not trimming energy consumption fast enough to hit the 2021 goal set in the Seventh Power Plan, according to an annual survey by Northwest Power and Conservation Council staff.
BPA will absorb around $63 million annually in inflation for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, according to the agency's closeout BP-22 Integrated Program Review released Sept. 30
Umatilla Electric Cooperative and PNGC Power announced Sept. 28 they had agreed to an "amicable" end to their 45-year relationship to allow the co-op to acquire its own generating resources.
California's transportation sector represents its largest share of greenhouse gas emissions, but an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom aims to change that while also creating opportunities for economic growth and manufacturing in the Golden State.
The Bureau of Reclamation has issued a request for proposals to develop pumped-storage hydroelectric power using Banks Lake and Lake Roosevelt, located in Grand Coulee, Wash.
Wildfires continued to rage in Washington and Oregon on Sept. 11, as utilities hustled to restore power to areas that had been shut off, where and when it was safe.
A U.S. DOE study touting the potential benefits of retrofitting PacifiCorp's four coal-fired power plants in Wyoming with carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies is being panned by Wyoming environmentalists, landowners and the utility.
Developers want to build one of Washington's biggest wind farms about 10 miles southwest of Benton County PUD's headquarters. However, the utility hopes the Horse Heaven proposal stays on the drawing board, because it officially opposes further wind development in the Pacific Northwest to se…
A lower 20-year load forecast has Puget Sound Energy considering scrapping two solicitations for new resources.
California's electricity-generation future includes adding record amounts of solar generation and battery storage each year over the next 25 years, while keeping the majority of natural gas generation resources in use through 2045, state agencies said.
California's rolling blackouts and price spikes have caused financial damage to at least one Northwest utility, and raised concerns about the integrity of the California ISO's wholesale market.
The Northwest Power Pool's reserve contingency sharing and interim resource adequacy programs helped prevent Northwest blackouts during the recent heat wave.
Clean energy will provide about half of the demand across the Western Electricity Coordinating Council region by 2030 and as much 80 percent by 2050, based on current state mandates and goals set by cities, counties and utilities, according to analysis by the Northwest Power and Conservation…
Fleets of new renewable resources, fewer thermal-fired resources and California's voracious energy demand will drive midday prices on the Mid-Columbia spot market into negative territory by 2041, according to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's preliminary price forecast for its 2…
Officials with the California ISO have provided more details on the steps they took during power shortages starting Aug. 14 that led to rolling blackouts.
A change in how PacifiCorp models dispatching its coal fleet, and benefits from the federal production tax credits associated with adding 1,350 MW of new wind resources, could help lower PacifiCorp's rates in Oregon by 3.8 percent.
The Northwest Power Pool's development of a regional resource adequacy mechanism crossed an important milestone when NWPP announced Aug. 11 the Southwest Power Pool will design the region's resource adequacy program.
Idaho Power told Oregon and Idaho regulators in July that its updated 2019 integrated resource plan, expected to be filed in October, will not include any update on ownership changes for the proposed 500 kV Boardman-to-Hemingway transmission line.
A team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and Exxon Mobil have developed a new material able to more effectively and inexpensively capture carbon dioxide emissions from natural gas power plants for eventual reuse or sequestration.
A nearly 600-mile transmission line and more than 800 MW of new solar-plus-storage resources could be coming to Nevada if regulators there approve a July 20 proposal from NV Energy.
NorthWestern Energy is exploring developing a new green product for customers tied to a specific renewable energy resource.
Fourteen of Washington's 17 largest utilities met the state's higher renewable energy requirement, which jumped from 9 percent in 2019 to 15 percent for 2020.
PacifiCorp on July 7 released a request for proposals seeking 4.3 GW of renewable energy and battery storage, the largest RFP in the utility's history and one of the largest calls for renewables in the industry.
Portland General Electric's battery storage strategy is gaining momentum as the utility prepares to launch a residential battery storage pilot program.
The Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act (better known as the Northwest Power Act) turned 40 years old in December. Read more
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