Portland General Electric’s 20-year resource proposal includes renewable energy source acquisition

6th November 2009

US energy company Portland General Electric (PGE) has filed a comprehensive resource plan with the Oregon Public Utility Commission outlining proposed strategies to meet its customers’ electricity needs over the next 20 years.

The company’s plan includes a four-year strategy for acquisition of new resources and a 20-year strategy that outlines long term expectations for the utility’s resource needs and portfolio performance.

The four-year resource acquisition plan targets new renewable resources to meet Oregon’s renewable energy standard requirements on or ahead of schedule. It also targets new transmission capacity to help enable development of more renewable power projects and enhance reliability of the electrical grid. The plan follows months of analysis and research, including public workshops.

Jim Piro, president and CEO of PGE, said, ‘We’ve engaged customers and stakeholders in an 18-month planning process to help us identify the best way to continue supplying Oregonians with reliable electricity at a reasonable cost.

‘PGE has 120 years of experience in this business, but planning for energy needs over a 20-year horizon into the future is a major challenge. We work hard to weigh all of the costs and risks to achieve the most responsible balance possible for our customers,’ he added.

The integrated resource planning process, with guidelines established by the Oregon Public Utility Commission, is designed to identify a future portfolio of resources that offers the best combination of cost and risk. The proposal also includes plans to install emissions control retrofits on PGE’s coal-fired generating plant near Boardman, Oregon and new pollution controlled gas-fired generation.

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