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Categories: U.S. Dept. of Energy | United States federal agencies | Public utilities | Oregon | New Deal
Bonneville Power Administration
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is a US self-financed federal agency headquartered in Portland, Oregon which transmits and sells wholesale electricity to Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana. A part of the U.S. Department of Energy, the BPA was created in 1937 to provide the hydroelectricity generated from Bonneville Dam and, later, Grand Coulee Dam; as of 2004, it still provides about half the electricity used in the region.
The BPA now markets the electricity from thirty-one hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River and her tributaries, as well as the Columbia Generating Station located on the Hanford Site. It has more than 15,000 miles of electrical lines and 300 substations in the Pacific Northwest. The BPA also maintain connection lines with other power grids in Canada and the southwestern United States.
The power generated on the BPA's grid is sold to public utilities, private utilities, and industry on the grid. The excess is sold to other grids in Canada, California and other regions. Because they are a public entity, they sell their electricity at cost and not at market prices. They also coordinate with the Corps to regulate flow of water in the Columbia River and take on environmental projects such as salmon replenishment.
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