BPA reports progress on 2021 Power Plan’s cost-effective energy efficiency goals

During the Council’s November meeting, representatives from Bonneville Power Administration reported making progress on acquiring target amounts of cost-effective energy efficiency by 2027.

The 2021 Plan gave BPA a range to acquire 270-360 aMW of cost-effective efficiency between 2022-2027. BPA Vice President of Energy Efficiency Jamae Hilliard Creecy said the agency is on track to acquire at least 300 aMW by then, and its updated forecast projects 340.7 aMW. Its budget for energy efficiency programs is set to increase from $119.3 million in 2026 and 2027 to $140.5 million in 2028.

As load forecasts show significant growth in the next five years due to electric vehicles, data centers, and the tech sector in the Pacific Northwest, acquiring cost-effective energy efficiency is a key solution to lowering demand on the power system. The 2021 Power Plan also included a region-wide efficiency goal of acquiring 750-1,000 aMW.

In September, the Council reviewed new data showing the region to be on track, and potentially exceeding, this 750-1,000 aMW target. The data came from a survey that encompassed Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana – in urban as well as rural areas, and included public as well as private utilities of all sizes.

At the November Council meeting, BPA’s Bonnie Watson, Manager of Planning, Evaluation, Research & Policy, and Eric Mullendore, Program Implementation Sector, highlighted recent successes in the residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and utility sectors during fiscal year 2022-23.

• BPA has grown its program for low-income residents by 20%, aiming to reduce energy cost burdens, make homes and living spaces more comfortable, and protect safety. Mullendore credited Idaho Falls Power with a successful income-qualified efficiency program that has saved 52,022 kWh/year.
• BPA’s commercial program saved 20.6 aMW – which was below its forecast – and credited Oregon’s Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative with a small business-focused efficiency program that saved 136,698 kWh/year.
• The industrial program savings were above forecast at 30.3 aMW. Mullendore highlighted the work between Montana’s Flathead Electric Cooperative and timber giant Weyerhaeuser to improve the company’s operational efficiency. That has resulted in annual savings of 1.8 million kWh. In Idaho, an industrial efficiency program implemented by the city of Bonners Ferry resulted in 631,177 kWh/year savings.
• In the agricultural sector, Idaho’s Fall River Electric Cooperative upgraded water pumps that resulted in 400,000 kWh/year savings.
• And in the utility sector, Washington’s Okanagan County Public Utility District improved customer resilience by upgrading nine transformers and other 1960s-era infrastructure, which resulted in 856,790 kWh/year savings.