News | Energy Efficiency

http://www.newenergyworldnetwork.com/renewable-energy-news/by-technology/energy-efficiency/pge-bpa-transmission-collaboration-to-bring-more-renewables-online.html

NYSE-listed power utility Portland General Electric (PGE) has penned an agreement with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to form a double-circuit transmission project that will allow for the development of more renewable power projects in the US state of Oregon.

PGE said the agreement will enable both power companies to coordinate planning of new electrical substations and transmission facilities and to consider joint project development.
The companies plan to install the Cascade Crossing transmission between the city of Boardman to Sale, to connect new and existing power generation resources east of the Cascades to the Willamette Valley.
The agreement will see the two companies work on system interconnections, substation locations and utilisation of existing transmission corridors.
BPA said it expects its separate McNary-John Day transmission project to be finished in early 2012, and is conducting environmental analyses on three proposed 500KV transmission lines.
The power utility is also developing several large electrical substations to integrate wind power onto the north-west grid, it said.
Steve Hawke, PGE’s senior vice president for customer service, transmission and distribution, said, ‘Cascade Crossing, if constructed, would integrate with other existing and proposed transmission projects and meet the needs of our customers and the region.’
BPA Transmission Services’ senior vice president Brian Silverstein said, ‘Finding ways to work together to meet the region’s growing electricity needs will provide benefits to ratepayers throughout the north-west and minimise the need for new transmission facilities.’
PGE is in the second year of what it expects to be a three-year permitting process for the transmission project, for which it has previously entered into agreements with PacifiCorp, Idaho Power and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. In order to build the transmission project, the company needs to secure approvals from state and federal governments.