For transmission, PGE is required to meet mandatory reliability standards and planning requirements set by federal regulators and regional coordinators, which includes an obligation to collaboratively plan with Bonneville Power Administration and others. To meet these standards, planning requirements and directives, PGE regularly assesses system performance to determine where improvements are needed to meet customer needs reliably. This assessment and planning encompass PGE’s system, our interaction with BPA’s system and regional systems to help bring electricity from different locations and generation resources, like solar or wind, into PGE’s service area. They also help make sure that our systems function as planned in an interconnected electric grid. When upgrades are needed, we begin a multi-phase planning process involving different engineering and project teams with different areas of expertise. At a high level, these teams evaluate potential pathways for electricity to flow reliably from generation resources through the grid to customers; examine existing infrastructure and options for physical routes that will deliver electrons where they’re needed; and plan and design lines and substations factoring a wide range of variables that include right of way, terrain, permitting needs, construction constraints – including limits on where PGE can place lines, competing infrastructure, and more.