BPA anticipates meeting energy efficiency targets

Richard Génecé, vice president of energy efficiency at the Bonneville Power Administration, briefed the Council in August on the agency's accomplished and projected energy savings. Génecé said the agency is on track to meet the targets set in the Council’s Sixth Power Plan.

“That is cause for celebration and a good-news story,” he said.

The Council’s plan calls for annual savings to gradually increase after 2014. In response, Bonneville is updating its strategy for helping its utility customers achieve the targets for 2015-2017.

Génecé told the Council that the agency's overall performance in meeting the plan's targets has been good, helped by a couple of years—2010 and 2011—when they surpassed the targets. “Today we are right where we meant to be,” he said.

While the Council’s plan didn't establish annual targets after 2014, its supporting analysis projected efficiency improvements increasing until about 2020. Bonneville also estimates that its share of the plan’s targets will increase after 2014.

Bonneville’s cumulative savings goal for 2010-2014 is 504 average megawatts. “We essentially have no risk of not meeting the 504-average-megawatt target,” Génecé said.

For 2015-2017, Bonneville estimates its cumulative target at approximately 400 average megawatts—about a 30 percent increase in the rate of acquisition from the current period. “We expect to meet or exceed that target,” he said.

Still, Généce acknowledged that there is some risk of falling short if market projections lag. He outlined Bonneville's plans to monitor progress and identified potential sources of additional funding for energy efficiency acquisitions, if needed.