Tom Karier 

Chair 

Washington

Joan M. Dukes 

Vice-Chair 

Oregon

Frank L. Cassidy Jr. 

“Larry” 

Washington 

James A. Yost 

Idaho 

W. Bill Booth 

Idaho

Melinda S. Eden

Oregon 

Bruce A. Measure 

Montana 

Rhonda Whiting 

Montana

Issues for the Sixth Pacific Northwest 

Power and Conservation Plan 

 Council Document 2007-22

851 S.W. Sixth Avenue, Suite 1100 Steve Crow 503-222-5161 

Portland, Oregon 97204-1348 Executive Director 800-452-5161 

www.nwcouncil.org Fax: 503-820-2370
851 S.W. Sixth Avenue, Suite 1100 Steve Crow 503-222-5161 

Portland, Oregon 97204-1348 Executive Director 800-452-5161 

www.nwcouncil.org Fax: 503-820-2370

Issues for the Sixth Pacific Northwest 

Power and Conservation Plan 

Background 

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council is beginning the development of its Sixth Power 

Plan. The Northwest Power Act requires the Council to review its 20-year regional power plan 

every five years. The Council wants to ensure that the Sixth Power Plan addresses issues that are 

important to interested parties in the Pacific Northwest. These parties help implement the 

Council’s power plans, and the plan needs to provide the information and policy guidance that 

will help the region achieve the adequate, efficient, economic, and reliable power system that is 

our shared goal as required in the Northwest Power Act. 

The purpose of this issue paper is to share the Council’s initial views on important issues that 

need to be addressed in the next power plan, and to solicit views from the region on these and 

other important issues. 

Theme of the Power Plan 

Each of the Council’s five previous power plans has been organized around a general theme. 

Sometime these were explicitly stated, and other times they were implicitly suggested. The 

implicit theme of the Fifth Power Plan was dealing with price volatility and risk. That power 

plan was developed following the West Coast energy crisis of 2000-2001. The plan focused on 

adequacy of power supplies and the value of improved efficiency as a low-cost and low-risk 

approach to meet power needs. 

As the Council prepares to develop the Sixth Power Plan, a special concern of the Pacific 

Northwest and the entire United States is climate change. Renewable portfolio standards and 

carbon control regulations have been established in many states in the Northwest and the wider 

West. In addition, CO2 emissions targets have been adopted by the Western Climate Initiative 

and many individual states. The Council’s 2007 paper on The Carbon Dioxide Footprint of the 

Northwest Power System1

 illustrated the difficult challenge the region faces to achieve these 

goals and still provide an economical and reliable power system for the region. The Council 

proposes that cost-effective reduction of the carbon dioxide footprint of the Northwest power 

system should be a major theme of the Sixth Power Plan. 

Major Issues 

Consideration of price volatility and risk, and the resulting value of resource adequacy and 

improved efficiency will be integral elements of the Sixth Power Plan. However, additional 

issues have emerged since adoption of the Fifth Plan. In summary, the issues include: 

• Climate change and related policies 

 

1

 Pacific Northwest Power and Conservation Council. Carbon Dioxide Footprint of the Northwest Power System. 

November 2007. Council Document 2007-15. 
• Meeting loads on an annual, daily, hourly, and sub-hourly basis 

• Expanding the menu of resource choices 

• Transmission constraints and their impacts on electricity markets and resource 

development 

• Power plan interactions with the fish and wildlife program 

• Appropriate avoided cost measures for resource decisions 

Each of these issues is discussed below. Although they are described separately, the nature of 

these issues is that they overlap to a significant degree both conceptually and analytically. The 

Council invites the region to comment on these and other issues that should be included 

prominently in the Sixth Power Plan. 

Climate change issues and policies 

Regardless of one’s views on climate change and human responsibility for it, the fact is that 

global climate is warming and many believe that human creation of greenhouse gases is playing 

a role. Policies are already in place to address the issue and more likely will appear before the 

power plan is finished. 

Climate change policies that have been put in place in the region so far include renewable 

portfolio standards, limitations on CO2 emissions from new power plants, and targets for overall 

CO2 emissions that may lead to constraints on the operation of existing power plants. These 

policies will limit the resource choices that can be considered in the power plan. The objective 

of the power plan then becomes finding a combination of efficiency improvements, demand 

response, and generating resources that comply with the legal requirements at the lowest cost and 

least risk. 

Some of the questions that need to be considered include: 

• How do renewable portfolio standards (RPS) that differ among states affect the region? 

• What will be the actual effect of renewable portfolio standards when special provisions of 

RPS policies such as cost caps, exclusion of some utilities, low-load growth exceptions, 

and ability to purchase offsets are considered? 

• How might carbon reduction policies and resource choices impact electric system 

dispatch? What are the implications of dispatching resources to conform to carbon 

reduction requirements instead of minimizing cost? 

• Growing reliance on wind to provide renewable energy raises integration issues that are 

being addressed by the Wind Integration Forum. What is the role of the hydro system in 

integrating wind? What are its limitations? How does use of the hydrosystem to 

integrate intermittent wind resources affect other uses of that system such as providing 

capacity and ancillary services? How do proposed modifications of hydro system 

operations for fish and wildlife and other purposes impact the availability of power 

system flexibility for integrating wind power and other intermittent resources? 

• What options other than the hydro system exist for integrating wind and other 

intermittent renewable resources and providing the flexibility to meet hourly and daily 

loads and also provide needed ancillary services? What are the risks and limits to relying 

on natural gas to provide such services? 

3
• How might climate control policies in other sectors of the economy affect electricity 

requirements? For example, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles or production of various 

types of biofuels could affect regional energy demand, but today the effects are uncertain. 

• What are other options might reduce the CO2 content of new electricity generation? 

What alternatives exist now, and what alternatives might become cost- effective with 

further research and development? Examples include nuclear generation, integrated 

gasified combined cycle (IGCC) or other fossil technologies with carbon capture and 

sequestration (CCS), or advanced renewable sources such as solar, wave, ocean thermal, 

tidal energy, and energy crops. 

• The CO2 Footprint paper showed that reducing CO2 emissions to 1990 levels would 

require changes to existing coal fired resources. What are the economic costs and 

benefits of retiring or retrofitting existing coal generation plants to utilize CCS? How 

does the uncertainty of future carbon dioxide allowance prices or taxes affect this 

tradeoff? 

• What opportunities exist for developing and using renewable energy credits and trading 

systems for ecological services or other “green products” to complement efforts to reduce 

greenhouse gas emissions and preserve fish and wildlife habitat? 

• How will climate change affect water supply and hydroelectric generation? What 

mitigating actions are available to the region to offset undesirable effects of climate 

change? 

Meeting Loads on an Annual, Daily, Hourly and Intra-Hourly Basis 

In the past, regional planning has focused mainly on meeting annual energy requirements. 

However, we have recognized for many years that a time would come when assessing annual 

energy needs would not be sufficient. The Council believes that time is here and that the Sixth 

Power Plan will need to address not just energy planning, but also how the region can best meet 

electricity requirements on an hourly and daily basis. 

The Northwest Power Act was created to respond when the region began to outgrow the energy 

capability of the hydroelectric system. Successful conservation efforts in the region have slowed 

the growth of electricity demand, but over 25 years the hydroelectric system has become a 

smaller share of the electricity supply. The region now has a diverse array of generating 

resources. However, much of the added non-hydro generation resources have been for the 

purpose of baseload generation. Baseload generation is not designed to vary operating levels on 

an hourly or daily basis. The region has continued to rely on the hydroelectric system for the 

flexibility to shape energy to meet fluctuating electricity use and to provide ancillary services. 

Eventually the region is bound to outgrow the flexibility available from the hydroelectric system, 

just as it did the energy capability of the system. Some utilities in the region already have turned 

to construction of new generation for the purpose of serving capacity needs. It is still not clear 

exactly when new flexibility resources will be needed, but the time has been hastened by 

limitations on the flexibility of the hydroelectric system to help mitigate the impacts of the dams 

on salmon and steelhead, and more recently by significant additions to wind generation capacity. 

Wind generation is intermittent, subject to the whims of nature, and requires increased 

generation flexibility from other resources to integrate it into the power system, both on an 

hourly and sub-hourly basis. Renewable portfolio standards are expected to add much more 

4
wind into the regional generation mix and further hasten the need to address increased flexibility 

in the regional generation and use of electricity. 

The Council recognizea a growing need to analyze generation and load on a finer temporal scale. 

In the past, the Council developed models to assess the shape of demand, simulate resource 

operation, evaluate regional market prices of electricity. and determine loss-of-load probability -- 

all on an hourly basis. The Fifth Power Plan began to assess demand response as a way of 

providing flexibility on the demand side. Conservation cost-effectiveness has been assessed 

based on a time-of-day and seasonal basis since the 1996 Power Plan. The Resource Adequacy 

Forum is developing both capacity and energy adequacy standards for the region. In addition, 

the Council has assessed the effects of climate change forecasts on the seasonal patterns of 

hydroelectric generation and electricity demand. 

These developments, although they contributed to parts of past power plans, were not 

consistently and completely integrated into the plans. Thus, the Council believes the Sixth 

Power Plan the Council should address the issue of resource flexibility to meet hourly 

requirements more comprehensively. We have developed a new demand forecasting system that 

better addresses both short-term and long-term patterns of demand. Some flexible resources 

such as simple cycle turbines or water storage behind dams are traditional and well understood. 

However, there are other alternatives that are less well-understood and more difficult to assess 

with traditional models. Some examples include demand response programs, various electricity 

pricing strategies, plug-in hybrid cars that can be charged or drawn down as needs vary, 

innovative storage technologies, improved wind forecasting, and ramping controls on wind 

turbines. There are likely many other approaches to be considered and compared on the basis of 

cost, risk, and other characteristics. 

Many of these alternatives can contribute to wind integration, but may affect the flexibility of the 

power system in other ways as well. The Wind Integration Forum is continuing its work in this 

area and should provide some input to the Sixth Power Plan. But the issue is broader than wind 

integration and should be analyzed in a more comprehensive manner. 

Expanding the Menu of Resource Choices 

The Council’s paper on the CO2 footprint of the regional power system demonstrated that 

significant effort will be required to reach Western Climate Initiative, state, and potential 

national greenhouse gas reduction targets. Conventional low-carbon resource alternatives are 

limited in potential and are expensive. Natural gas-fired generation is subject to substantial fuel 

availability and price risk. Some technologies for reducing carbon dioxide releases to the 

atmosphere, such as post-combustion carbon separation, carbon sequestration, and advanced 

nuclear power, remain under development and may be difficult to put in place, certainly in the 

first decade of the power plan. 

Higher prices and CO2 limitations mean that efficiency improvements will be especially 

important. It will be an objective of the Sixth Power Plan to expand the efficiency supply curve 

to provide additional options at higher avoided cost levels. The Council will take a fresh look at 

renewable and low-carbon generating technologies, system operation strategies, and 

sequestration technology to see if some of them have become viable sources of cost-effective 

approaches to meeting renewable portfolio standards and CO2 reduction targets. 

5
Traditional resource choices are limited in the carbon constrained world that is developing. 

These conventional sources of generation and conservation have been well characterized in past 

power plans. In the new power plan, the Council proposes to explore further resource 

alternatives holding promise in this new world including: 

• What efficiency options are available at higher avoided cost levels? 

• What are the cost-effectiveness and feasibility of “smart grid” options including 

opportunities for savings based on smart meters and automated evaluation of savings 

from real time pricing incentives that consider not only electricity cost savings, but 

overall business efficiency and profitability? 

• What are the cost, commercial status and potential for emerging renewable resources 

including wave, tidal current, and solar thermal options? 

• What is the availability of “conventional” renewable resources including wind, 

geothermal, biomass and solar photovoltaics at higher avoided cost levels? 

• What are the most promising advanced natural gas and coal technologies? What carbon 

separation technologies are available for new and retrofit applications? What are the 

prospects for carbon sequestration in the Northwest? 

• What are the most promising nuclear generation designs, and what are the current state of 

and future prospects for nuclear waste processing, storage, and disposal? 

The Sixth Power Plan should highlight these resources where promising and explore ways to 

encourage their development if they are cost-effective and contribute to meeting other policy 

goals. 

Transmission constraints and impacts on electricity markets and resource 

development 

Adequate transmission capacity and its efficient operation and management are essential to a 

reliable and economical power system. The Fifth Power Plan addressed a list of transmission 

problems and encouraged the region to move forward to resolve them. There has been progress 

over the last few years to address some of the most urgent problems. These efforts are headed by 

different regional and West-wide organizations, such as Columbia Grid, the Northern Tier 

Transmission Group, WECC, NTAC, and perhaps others in the West. 

In the Sixth Power Plan, the Council will need to assess the progress in improving transmission 

capacity and operation. Some resource alternatives continue to be transmission constrained, 

which will affect their timing and cost. The role of transmission may be especially important in 

determining the feasibility of acquiring enough renewable resources to meet RPS requirements 

within proposed cost limitations. To the extent that generating plant locations, distributed 

generation, efficiency improvements, or demand response contribute to alleviating transmission 

constraints they have additional value that should be considered. 

Transmission decisions and impacts are both highly location and situation specific and often not 

just regional but multi-regional. Transmission expansion planning studies that would be 

analogous to what the Council does in resource planning would require analytical capability and 

models that the Council does not now possess. However, the Council is actively involved in a 

number of regional and West-wide transmission planning forums that are involved in such 

analysis. The intent of this involvement is, among other things, to help ensure that the resource 

6
actions of the Fifth Power Plan are carried out as well as possible. Should this role change for 

the Sixth Power Plan? 

One possible approach would be to focus further on characterizing the areas in and adjacent to 

the Northwest in which renewable development looks the most promising (sometimes called 

renewable energy zones) and working with the various transmission planning entities to ensure 

that transmission to deliver that power is examined. 

• How can the Council’s power planning best incorporate transmission issues? 

• Can the plan provide useful guidance on transmission capacity expansion? 

Power Plan Interactions with the Fish and Wildlife Program 

By law, the Council’s fish and wildlife program is incorporated into the power plan. The 

linkages have been relatively limited in the past. Most importantly, hydrosystem operations to 

improve fish passage in the fish and wildlife program act as constraints on the capability of the 

hydroelectric system, except in defined power emergency situations. Hydro operations in such 

emergencies, though rare, can have adverse effects of fish. The Council has attempted to 

minimize these events further by selecting a low-risk resource plan with adequacy standards 

intended to provide a low-risk power system, as well as a system unlikely to require emergency 

operations that might affect fish. 

There may be opportunities to increase the coordination between the fish and wildlife program 

and the Sixth Power Plan. Many of these opportunities are related to the growing concern about 

climate change, CO2mitigation, and increased use of wind power, and are therefore related to 

other issues raised in this paper. Some questions to consider are: 

• What is the quantitative relationship between changes in hydrosystem operations to 

benefit fish and wildlife and the availability of flexibility from the hydro system? How 

might hydrosystem operations be affected by increased needs to shape intermittent wind 

generation and what are possible effects on fish operations? 

• Does development of additional water storage projects, if cost-effective, have potential 

benefits for fish as well as for power? 

• How does growing competition for consumptive water use affect power and fish? How 

do water use efficiency improvements affect the power system and fish and wildlife? 

• Are there opportunities for negotiation with Canada on increased coordination of water 

releases or additional generation at Canadian dams that might benefit both the Columbia 

River power system and fish? 

• Does the growing use and value of carbon credits, or other tradable environmental 

credits, present opportunities for new power plants to offset carbon emissions, or other 

environmental impacts, by investing in improved fish and wildlife habitat? 

• How might climate change affect electricity demand, hydropower generation patterns, 

and salmon migration? 

Appropriate Avoided Cost Measures for Resource Decisions 

In the last couple of power plans, the wholesale electricity price forecast at the Mid-Columbia 

pricing point has been used as an indication of the avoided cost of electricity generation. This is 

7
8

an important input to the Council’s assessment of conservation cost-effectiveness. It is also used 

by others as an indication of avoided electricity costs for other purposes. 

In the Council’s recent proposed revision to its electricity price forecasts, some issues were 

raised by the fact that electricity price forecasts decreased in spite of increases in natural gas and 

coal prices and higher capital costs for most generating resources. The cause of the decreased 

electricity price forecast was traced to the inclusion of renewable portfolio standards into the 

AuroraXMPTM market model of western electricity markets. By forcing resources to be built 

beyond what would be provided by a competitive market, an enduring surplus is created. In 

addition, the renewable resource portfolio standards tend to add resources that have low marginal 

operating costs. These resources enter the supply curve at the bottom and force other resources 

up the dispatch stack. As a result, the marginal operating cost of the resource that actually meets 

the load requirement is no higher -- and it is usually lower -- than before. Under these conditions 

the long-term market price forecast will be lower than the fully allocated cost of marginal 

resources. Additional payments must be made to cover otherwise out-of-the-market capital costs 

of new resources. These can be in the form of capacity payments in the wholesale market, or 

cost recovery through rates by a regulated utility. 

This raises issues about the appropriate measure of avoided costs for different uses. If one is 

assessing the remarketing value of surplus generation, or short-term sales into the wholesale 

markets, then the market price is an appropriate measure. However, if one is assessing the longterm avoided cost of new generating resources that could be avoided by conservation, then the 

market price with surplus supplies will underestimate the true avoided costs. In this case, the 

portion of capital costs that is unrecovered in the market price would need to be added to market 

prices to get an appropriate avoided cost. 

• How should carbon costs be reflected in the avoided cost used for conservation 

programs? If one goal is to reduce the carbon footprint of the region’s power supply, 

conservation may provide significantly more carbon dioxide reduction per dollar than 

developing additional non-carbon generation. 

• What is the relationship between the cost-effectiveness threshold for resources and 

avoided cost? For example, risk premiums reflect the value of a resource to a portfolio of 

loads and resources. The Fifth Power Plan demonstrated the insurance or hedge value of 

conservation resources. How should these be incorporated or addressed by utilities and 

regulators? 

________________________________________ 

q:\tm\division planning\6th plan\issues ip (2).doc 
1

Issues for the Sixth Pacific Northwest 

Power and Conservation Plan: 

An Addendum on Regional Views 

The Council received several thoughtful and helpful comments on issues that are of interest to 

the region. The comments we received supported the importance of the issues described in the 

Council’s paper. They also suggested additional issues and provided more detail on important 

aspects of the broad issues the Council discussed. Rather than modifying the Council’s paper, it 

was decided to summarize in this addendum what was heard from others in the region in 

response to the proposed issues. 

Climate change issues 

The Council’s issue paper suggested that the Sixth Power Plan would have a theme that related 

to the effects of various policies and regulations relating to climate change. This was expressed 

as “cost-effective reduction of the carbon dioxide footprint of the Northwest power system.” 

Some took this as an indication that the power plan might neglect the statutory objective of the 

power plan, which is “to assure the Pacific Northwest of an adequate, efficient, economical, and 

reliable power supply.” That was not the Council’s intent. By a theme, the Council was 

proposing the primary context within which the plan would be developed. For example, the 

context and theme of the 1991 power plan was “a time for action,” reflecting a need to add 

resources to address an impending deficit. And the Fifth Power Plan’s theme reflected planning 

within the context of the market risks demonstrated by the Western energy crisis of 2000 and 

2001. 

By proposing the theme for the Sixth Power Plan the Council was recognizing that renewable 

portfolio standards, greenhouse gas emission targets, and legislation addressing power plant CO2

emissions are the focal context within which the Sixth Plan will be developed. The theme 

statement in the issue paper has been changed to clarify the Council’s intent. It now reads 

“..cost-effective reduction of the carbon dioxide footprint of the Northwest power system, while 

assuring an adequate, efficient, economical, and reliable power supply.” 

 Comments indicated that the Council should not approach the climate change policy issue by 

focusing narrowly on the current policies and regulations. The Council was encouraged to look 

at the issue broadly, recognizing that policies are recent or still being developed and interpreted, 

and that future attitudes and information could change. As one commenter put it: 

 “Rather, instead of responding to specific actions, we believe the Council 

is in a unique position to take a broader view by creating a document that 

looks ahead to inform such decisions in the region and provides a basis for 

creating sound policies.” 

Another common recommendation relating to climate change was that the Council should 

calculate the costs of various policies to the region’s citizens and assess the possible economic 
2

impacts of those costs. Further, the Council was encouraged to communicate these findings 

clearly to regional legislators, policy makers, and citizens. The following comment is an 

example of this concern: 

“Climate change and green house gas emission policies are creating a new 

challenge for regional energy planning. Various state, regional (Western 

Climate Initiative), and possibly federal-level green house gas legislation 

could affect the region’s ability to deliver economical and reliable power. 

The Power Plan should address how these regulatory policies and 

legislative actions will affect energy costs and reliability for consumers in 

the Pacific Northwest. The region’s policy-makers need to understand the 

economic impact of carbon reduction policies on the power system, how 

such policies could affect reliability, and the possibility of unintended 

impacts these policies may have on our region.” 

The Council was also encouraged to track and regularly update its analysis of the carbon 

footprint of the region’s power system. 

Meeting Loads on an Hourly, Daily, Hourly and Intra-Hourly Basis 

All commenters recognized the importance of this issue. The comments often took the form of 

encouraging the Council to analyze the capability of the hydroelectric system and its use. 

Growing demands on the flexibility of the hydroelectric system for wind integration, load 

following, capacity, and regulation on one hand compete with reduced flexibility to aid salmon 

migration on the other hand. One expression of this issue was: 

“There are many responsibilities placed on the Northwest river systems 

that include flood control, recreation, irrigation, transportation, fish and 

wildlife and power production. The Council’s Power Plan is a great 

opportunity to shed light on the many uses of the Columbia River system 

and to illustrate the trade-offs required as additional uses for the river are 

contemplated.” 

Related to issues of the hydrosystem was a recommendation that “The Council and BPA should 

coordinate development of a uniform hydro capacity standard that is sufficiently detailed that 

utilities can determine need.” 

Concerns were raised that various policies about uses of the river are not discussed within the 

whole context of various uses. The Council was encouraged to “..inquire further into the 

quantitative relationship between reduced hydrosystem flexibility and resulting carbon 

emissions.” 

The Council was encouraged to evaluate alternative technologies for new generating capacity 

and flexibility resources. The work of the Wind Integration Forum was recognized and more 

analysis of the alternatives for integrating large amounts of wind into the power system was 

encouraged. 
3

Expanding the Menu of Resource Choices 

There was support for the plan providing information on available technologies for energy and 

capacity that will be compatible with renewable portfolio standards and carbon limits. In 

addition, many commenters wanted an expanded list of cost-effective efficiency actions to help 

them achieve more conservation. For example, “The Plan must identify the options available to 

the region for additional energy efficiency measures.” 

Many utility organizations raised the issue of whether it would be better for cost-effectiveness 

determination to be done at the local level rather than at the regional level. They argue that 

utilities face individual and unique avoided costs and efficiency opportunities. For example: 

“..more efforts to determine whether cost-effectiveness for purposes of 

conservation is more appropriately determined at a local level, given the 

various conservation opportunities available within differing service 

territories, the increased incentives consumer-owned utilities will have to 

achieve conservation under tiered rates, and recent state regulations 

requiring greater conservation achievements by individual utilities.” 

and, 

“The Council should thoroughly explore various alternatives for 

increasing energy efficiency throughout the region. As part of that 

evaluation, the Council needs to examine its own policies that may be 

impeding the wider implementation of energy efficiency measures. [We] 

continue to be concerned over the rigid definition of “cost-effectiveness” 

used by the Council and BPA when evaluating potential conservation 

measures and utility programs. The current convention limits the ability of 

many cooperatives to pursue energy savings that are available in their 

service territories. We suggest that the cost-effectiveness standard the 

Council applies be updated and made more flexible in order to capture 

long-term opportunities that will otherwise be lost to the region.” 

These issues relate to the Council’s resource acquisition criteria, cost-effectiveness 

determinations, and avoided cost calculations. 

Other Issues 

Most commenters recommended that the Council maintain the approach to transmission issues 

that it adopted in the Fifth Power Plan. That is, that the Council should encourage and track 

progress, but not attempt to actually plan transmission expansion or modify operations. As one 

comment put it: 

“...the role the Council adopted with respect to transmission expansion 

issues pursuant to the Fifth Power Plan continues to be the appropriate role 

under the Sixth Power Plan. FERC policy will drive increasing 

involvement by utilities in regional planning groups, such as 

ColumbiaGrid, that are well equipped to produce studies and coordinate 
4

expansion plans. [We] encourages the Council to continue to rely on 

utilities and these regional planning groups and remain involved in them. 

The Plan itself should not attempt to guide transmission investment. 

Transmission investment will continue to be determined by resource 

choices made by load-serving utilities.” 

A couple of comments, in contrast, suggested that the Council should get more involved in 

transmission planning, especially in the area of wind integration needs. 

A few comments addressed the role of natural gas. Three basic comments appeared. First, was 

that the Council should assess the supply, deliverability, and cost of natural gas. Second, the role 

of natural gas as a fuel for capacity resources needs to be assessed in light of the absence of an 

intraday natural gas market and adequate natural gas storage capability. And finally, the Council 

was encouraged to consider the direct use of natural gas as an electricity saving resource and a 

tool for reducing carbon emissions. 

Other comments related to keeping the Council plan up-to-date. The Council was encouraged to 

create a flexible power plan that could be kept up to date. Because the plan is used in some state 

regulatory proceedings, it becomes important to make sure that it does not fall seriously out of 

line with energy developments that may have occurred since the plan was adopted. 

Other suggestions included analysis of the potential effects of electric vehicles, or more generally 

the potential effects of climate change actions in other sectors of the economy on the power 

system, consideration of the potential future role of smart grid technologies, and evaluation of 

the potential of nuclear technology. One comment suggested addressing only responsible 

nuclear technology, which would require satisfactory solutions to the nuclear waster storage 

problem. 

A public utility organization pointed out the importance of the Council coordinating its plan with 

Bonneville’s 2008 Resource Program, which is a planning effort Bonneville is undertaking this 

year. 

The Council appreciates the regional interest in its power plan as evidenced by the many 

comments we received. This summary should not be considered a comprehensive listing of 

comments the Council received. Individual comments are posted on the Council website, 

www.nwcouncil.org. Further, the Council expects additional issues to emerge as we work 

through the planning process. The region will have many opportunities to comment on 

assumptions and issues as we develop the Sixth Power Plan. In addition, the Council encourages 

interested parties to participate in the planning process by joining advisory groups or interacting 

directly with Council members or their staff. 
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