The Oregon Public Utility Commission has granted final acknowledgement to Portland General Electric Co.'s 2009 integrated resource plan. The plan outlines strategies to meet PGE customers’ electricity needs over the next 20 years, with a four-year action plan for acquisition of new resources to begin implementing those strategies. The plan is the result of two years of analysis, research and public debate, including extensive input from customer advocates, regulators, energy experts, and other key stakeholders.

“This represents a major milestone for PGE, our customers and Oregon’s energy future,” said Jim Piro, president and CEO. “This plan responsibly addresses the future energy needs of our customers and strikes a sensible balance between customer costs and risks and environmental impacts and sustainability. It also provides a reasonable transition time for moving away from coal to other sources of energy supply.”

The four-year resource acquisition plan targets:

• All energy efficiency measures identified as achievable by the Energy Trust of Oregon – 214 average MW – which PGE expects will meet nearly half of PGE’s load growth through 2020.
• 122 average MW of additional renewable resources to meet Oregon’s renewable energy standard requirements on or ahead of schedule.
• Demand-side resources – measures customers can take that can reliably deliver short-term reductions in customer demand to help reduce capacity needs and manage loads during peak periods.
• Additional natural gas-fired generation with state-of-the-art turbines and pollution controls to serve existing demand, meet additional load growth and maintain reliability standards. This would include 300 to 500 megawatts of baseload capacity and 100 to 200 megawatts of flexible peak load resources.
• Short-term and mid-term market purchases.
• Installation of emissions control retrofits on PGE’s coal-fired generating plant near Boardman, Oregon, to comply with Regional Haze rules under the Clean Air Act. The commission acknowledged PGE’s 2020 plan for the plant, which calls for the initial control retrofits followed by an end to coal-burning at the plant by Dec. 31, 2020. This action is contingent on approval of the 2020 plan by the EQC, which is slated to act on the proposal later this year.
• New transmission capacity to help meet growing energy needs, allow for development of more renewable power projects, and enhance reliability of the electrical grid. PGE has proposed development of a new transmission line called Cascade Crossing, which would bring power generated east of the Cascade Mountains to the Willamette Valley near Salem, Oregon.

The integrated resource planning process, which follows guidelines established by the OPUC, is designed to identify a future portfolio of resources that offers the best combination of cost and risk, taking into account factors such as environmental impacts, fuel supply availability, price volatility, resource diversity, and the ability of available resources to reliably meet demand. Utilities issue integrated resource plans roughly every two years to reflect new technologies, market conditions, and regulatory requirements.

PGE filed its 2009 integrated resource plan with the OPUC in November 2009 and then filed an addendum in April 2010 updating its plans for the Boardman plant. The company will now develop requests for proposals, under the OPUC's competitive bidding guidelines, to seek additional renewable and natural gas-fired generating resources called for in the four-year action plan.