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DOE Study to Examine Resource Needs If Lower Snake River Dams are Removed by Sean Wolfe HydroReview, September 25, 2024

The Northwest is facing a combination of energy system challenges,
including climate impacts to a hydropower-dominated system.

U.S. Department of Energy's Grid Deployment Office (GDO) has launched the Pacific Northwest Regional Energy Planning Project (PREPP), an engagement-based planning process that will produce regional analyses of infrastructure investments required to meet the goals and requirements of regional participants, including resource adequacy, decarbonization, ecosystem priorities, and system resilience and reliability.

Funded by GDO and the Washington State Department of Commerce, the 18-month study will explore how utilities in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington can plan infrastructure investments to address complex dynamics facing the region, such as high load growth, electrification, planning for extreme weather events and meeting decarbonization targets.

The study will examine at least one scenario looking at what infrastructure and resources could be needed to replace the hydropower and services provided by the four Lower Snake River dams and hydroelectric projects should Congress authorize removal. This removal would be consistent with DOE's commitments per the Dec. 14, 2023, Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Government, four Treaty Tribes of the Lower Columbia River, and states of Oregon and Washington.

The Northwest is facing a combination of energy system challenges, including resource adequacy, historic load growth forecasts, climate impacts to a hydropower-dominated system, natural resource and ecosystem concerns, and decarbonization. However, most current planning for generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure takes place at the individual utility level. More granular and coordinated analysis and planning could make it easier for the many entities involved in owning, operating and investing in the regional grid to understand and address these challenges, DOE said.

PREPP will combine datasets and projections on weather trends, extreme weather events, and new electricity demands to produce a set of future scenarios that could meet growing regional demand, provide reliable electric service, and align with regional energy policies. The study will aim to provide potential infrastructure solutions to address the needs and challenges identified without prescribing any specific actions.

PREPP does not replace or duplicate current planning processes or any utility's integrated resource plan or resource acquisition plan but can help quantify and evaluate the impacts of various infrastructure options available to the region, DOE said. PREPP's process will rely on a steering committee representing regional, community, Tribal, utility and state perspectives, as well as a technical committee that will comprise planning and resource acquisition subject matter experts to guide the technical decisions in the study.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates four run-of-river dams and locks with hydro projects on the Lower Snake River in Washington that together provide 1,000 average MW of capacity and up to 3,033 MW of capacity at their peak. The dams, constructed between 1955 and 1961, are Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite. Construction and operation of the dams altered the physical, chemical, hydrological and biological processes in the river, and all species of salmon that use the Snake River are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. With salmon being "central to culture and wellbeing in tribal nations throughout the Pacific Northwest," there have been extensive discussions about breaching the dams.