Bonneville Power Administration
Encyclopedia
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is an American
federal agency based in the Pacific Northwest
. BPA was created by an act of Congress
in 1937 to market electric power from the Bonneville Dam
located on the Columbia River
and to construct facilities necessary to transmit that power. Congress has since designated Bonneville to be the marketing agent for power from all of the Federally-owned hydroelectric projects in the Pacific Northwest. Bonneville, whose headquarters are located in Portland, Oregon
, is one of four regional Federal power marketing agencies within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Although BPA is part of the DOE, it is self-funded and covers its costs by selling its products and services at cost. The BPA provides about 35% of the electricity used in the region. BPA transmits and sells wholesale electricity
in eight western states: Washington, Oregon
, Idaho
, Montana
, Wyoming
, Utah
, Nevada
, and California
.
BPA's first industrial sale was to Alcoa
in January 1940, to provide 32,500 kilowatts of power. This, and the following 162,500 killowatt order, led to complaints of the Bonneville Power Act's anti-monopoly clause. The cheap price of aluminum from Alcoa helped aluminum sales grow in the post-World War II
market.
The BPA now markets the electricity from thirty-one federal hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River
and its tributaries, as well as from the Columbia Generating Station
, a nuclear plant located on the Hanford Site
in eastern Washington. The BPA has more than 15,000 miles (24,000 km) of electrical lines and 300 substations in the Pacific Northwest
and controls approximately 75 percent of the high-voltage (230 kV and higher) transmission capacity in the region. The BPA also maintains connection lines with other power grids in Canada
(two BC Hydro
AC
500 kV lines and several lower voltage
lines). BPA's power grid is connected to the California high-voltage transmission system by Path 66
, which consists of the two 500 kV AC lines of the Pacific AC Intertie, plus a third 500 kV AC line of the California-Oregon Transmission Project (COTP) (managed by the Transmission Agency of Northern California). Together these three lines are operated as the California-Oregon Intertie (COI). An additional DC
+/- 500 kV line, the Pacific DC Intertie, links BPA's grid at the Celilo Converter Station
near The Dalles, Oregon to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
(LADW&P) grid 800 miles (1,300 km) away at the Sylmar Converter Station in Sylmar north of Los Angeles.
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 BPA is a public entity, it does not make a profit on power sales or from providing transmission services. BPA also coordinates with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to regulate flow of water in the Columbia River
and to carry out environmental projects such as salmon
restoration.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
federal agency based in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. BPA was created by an act of Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in 1937 to market electric power from the Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located east of Portland, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge. The primary functions of...
located on the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
and to construct facilities necessary to transmit that power. Congress has since designated Bonneville to be the marketing agent for power from all of the Federally-owned hydroelectric projects in the Pacific Northwest. Bonneville, whose headquarters are located in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, is one of four regional Federal power marketing agencies within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Although BPA is part of the DOE, it is self-funded and covers its costs by selling its products and services at cost. The BPA provides about 35% of the electricity used in the region. BPA transmits and sells wholesale electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
in eight western states: Washington, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
BPA's first industrial sale was to Alcoa
Alcoa
Alcoa Inc. is the world's third largest producer of aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. From its operational headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alcoa conducts operations in 31 countries...
in January 1940, to provide 32,500 kilowatts of power. This, and the following 162,500 killowatt order, led to complaints of the Bonneville Power Act's anti-monopoly clause. The cheap price of aluminum from Alcoa helped aluminum sales grow in the post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
market.
The BPA now markets the electricity from thirty-one federal hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River
Hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River
Hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River and its tributaries in North America.- Mainstem Columbia dams :-Snake River:-Pend Oreille-Clark Fork–Flathead:-Kootenai River:-See also:...
and its tributaries, as well as from the Columbia Generating Station
Columbia Generating Station
The Columbia Generating Station, is a nuclear power station located on the United States Department of Energy Hanford Site, 12 miles NW of Richland, Washington. Its site covers 1,089 acres of Benton County, Washington....
, a nuclear plant located on the Hanford Site
Hanford Site
The Hanford Site is a mostly decommissioned nuclear production complex on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, operated by the United States federal government. The site has been known by many names, including Hanford Works, Hanford Engineer Works or HEW, Hanford Nuclear Reservation...
in eastern Washington. The BPA has more than 15,000 miles (24,000 km) of electrical lines and 300 substations in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
and controls approximately 75 percent of the high-voltage (230 kV and higher) transmission capacity in the region. The BPA also maintains connection lines with other power grids in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(two BC Hydro
BC Hydro
The BC Hydro and Power Authority is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia generally known simply as BC Hydro. It is the main electric distributor, serving 1.8 million customers in most areas, with the exception of the Kootenay region, where FortisBC, a subsidiary of Fortis...
AC
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
500 kV lines and several lower voltage
Voltage
Voltage, otherwise known as electrical potential difference or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points — or the difference in electric potential energy per unit charge between two points...
lines). BPA's power grid is connected to the California high-voltage transmission system by Path 66
Path 66
Path 66 is the name of several 500 kV power lines that were built by Western Area Power Administration , Pacific Gas & Electric , and PacifiCorp in the early 1970s to 1990s and totally completed in 1993...
, which consists of the two 500 kV AC lines of the Pacific AC Intertie, plus a third 500 kV AC line of the California-Oregon Transmission Project (COTP) (managed by the Transmission Agency of Northern California). Together these three lines are operated as the California-Oregon Intertie (COI). An additional DC
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
+/- 500 kV line, the Pacific DC Intertie, links BPA's grid at the Celilo Converter Station
Celilo Converter Station
The Celilo Converter Station, built in 1970 and owned and operated by the Bonneville Power Administration, is the northern terminus of the Pacific DC Intertie, near The Dalles, Oregon, in the United States.-History:...
near The Dalles, Oregon to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is the largest municipal utility in the United States, serving over four million residents. It was founded in 1902 to supply water and electricity to residents and businesses in Los Angeles and surrounding communities...
(LADW&P) grid 800 miles (1,300 km) away at the Sylmar Converter Station in Sylmar north of Los Angeles.
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
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and other regions. Because BPA is a public entity, it does not make a profit on power sales or from providing transmission services. BPA also coordinates with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to regulate flow of water in the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
and to carry out environmental projects such as salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
restoration.
See also
- Tennessee Valley AuthorityTennessee Valley AuthorityThe Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
- Power Marketing AdministrationPower Marketing AdministrationA Power Marketing Administration is a United States federal agency within the Department of Energy with the responsibility for marketing hydropower, primarily from multiple-purpose water projects operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the International Boundary and...
- Western InterconnectionWestern InterconnectionThe Western Interconnection is one of the two major alternating current power grids in North America. The other major wide area synchronous grid is the Eastern Interconnection...