An outstanding piece about boosting Oregon’s electric grid was written by reporter Gosia Wozniacka (How Oregon plans to handle a staggering demand for new transmission lines, Feb. 10). I was a resource planning engineer at Bonneville Power Administration for 28 years. Rep. Mark Gamba, D-Milwaukie, co-chair of the legislative environmental caucus, wanted the BPA and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to perform just that kind of planning. However, we just actually did it as part of our long-term resource capacity planning.
I am not aware of any organization that ever carried out this kind of long-term planning for our transmission assets. According to Wozniacka’s assessment and Gamba, that needs to change.Making sure that there was always enough coal, gas, nuclear, hydro, and imports online or available only handled half the issue. It wasn’t our job to bring power to places where people needed it. Our engineers were given the task of determining any long-term transmission planning as best they could.
A new regional transmission authority is required in Oregon in order to examine the entire system and provide important answers, such as: Where is load increase coming from? What are we supposed to be getting ready for? What are the alternatives to constructing new transmission lines that are subject to strict regulations?
Instead of constructing new transmission, I would propose that we recognize nuclear power as a feasible option. Small modular reactors may be placed practically anywhere, and it can generate clean, dependable energy. They can reduce transmission length and consequent exposure to terrorism, fire, and storms when placed close to demand.
Portland’s Dennis Phillips
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