More than half of Washington’s population is served by consumer-owned utilities like Benton Public Utility District, Benton Rural Electric Association, Franklin PUD, the city of Richland and Columbia REA. BPA’s historic relationship to these utilities and others across the Northwest has allowed us to provide low-cost electricity to the region, driving its economic prosperity.   

For more than 80 years, BPA has provided reliable, carbon-free hydropower to the region’s consumer-owned utilities. Our enduring partnership has helped us overcome legislative and regulatory challenges, a turn-of-the-century energy crisis and several financial downturns. This partnership will help us thrive in a new era of power, transmission and energy markets taking hold across the states and Canadian provinces which make up the Western Interconnection. 

The roadmap for our future success is BPA’s 2024-28 Strategic Plan. It builds on our previous plan, which led to BPA joining the Western Energy Imbalance Market; positioned us to leverage new market opportunities to further enhance revenue and reliability; and bolstered our financial strength and ability to offer competitive wholesale power and transmission rates. We are ready to build on that foundation and enhance our role as a driver in the region’s clean energy economy. 

A key element of our future success is negotiating new long-term power contracts with our public utility customers, replacing the current contracts that expire in 2028. It is important that we get products and contract provisions right to solidify our relationship with public power and move the region forward with the stability and certainty that long-term contracts provide. I thank our customers for their ongoing collaboration in this critical effort to carry Northwest public power toward an even brighter future.  

Resource development plans and power contracts need companion transmission plans and infrastructure. BPA is focused on grid reinforcement efforts to keep pace with the Tri-Cities’ growth and economic development.  

We continue to make progress on the Tri-Cities Reinforcement Project, which will significantly increase the amount of electricity that can flow into the local area. This program includes three power line upgrades, a suite of fiber and substation reinforcements and one new line called the South of Tri-Cities Reinforcement Project. BPA is working on the environmental review for the proposed line to allow for public input into the agency’s decision-making process for building this new line.   

This fall, BPA held well-attended public meetings to inform and work with residents who may be impacted by the project. BPA is now working on an environmental assessment for the proposed line and, depending on the outcome of that review, will proceed with construction.   

Service to our customers is enhanced by the Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant – an important part of the Federal Columbia River Power System in the heart of the Tri-Cities. This dispatchable and reliable power resource provides more than 1,000 megawatts of continual generation that, along with the 31 federal dams, helps keep electricity prices low and reliable for public power customers. We appreciate the great work Energy Northwest has done operating and maintaining the plant and look forward to continuing our important partnership.   

BPA’s mission also supports the environment, fish and wildlife that are so cherished in the Pacific Northwest. We fund hundreds of actions around the region each year to mitigate the impacts of the federal hydropower system. We are restoring fish and wildlife habitat in tributaries of the Columbia River and its estuary. We are using hatcheries to increase fish abundance in the Columbia River while also protecting the genetics of natural fish. We fund successful efforts to reduce the number of fish eaten by predators. We also monitor and evaluate the effects of these actions to ensure we are investing in the right actions in the right places.  

A great local example of these efforts is the Imtwaha Hatchery, a name that holds cultural and historical significance to the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla peoples. This facility supports production of spring Chinook salmon. The new hatchery was built next to existing adult holding and spawning facilities that BPA constructed in 1996.  

The hatchery produces fish to help restore a population of spring Chinook that were extirpated from the Walla Walla River in the mid-1990s. Construction and operation of the hatchery is part of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish & Wildlife Program and is a component of the Columbia River Fish Accord between BPA and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The CTUIR operates the hatchery in coordination with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The hatchery releases 500,000 juvenile spring Chinook annually, with the goal of returning 5,000 adult chinook. It has released two cohorts of juvenile fish thus far and expects the first spring Chinook adults to begin returning in 2025. 

Fulfilling our fish and wildlife commitments includes operating the hydropower system in a way that supports fish passage, adding to the complexity of power operations. We are also managing increased variability on the system from wind and solar resources, as well as hydraulic and transmission constraints – but we continue to find ways to balance our fish and wildlife mitigation responsibilities with our commitment to provide clean, low-cost electricity to our customers.  

That’s why it’s important to continue to stretch the federal power system with energy efficiency efforts. Identifying ways to save energy with our customers helps avoid building or purchasing the output of new resources, which is a much more costly alternative to serve growing power demand.  

BPA is working with multiple utility customers and partners in the Tri-Cities area on efforts to save hundreds of megawatts over time. These include a large agricultural project in Sunnyside, an industrial project with Reser’s Fine Foods, and a three-acre controlled environment greenhouse called Local Bounti, where lettuce will be grown in nutrient-rich water then harvested and packaged without human hands. In the city of Richland, we are working with city officials, the port and other private partners on several large projects to add more energy efficient lighting.