Energy planners for the Pacific Northwest on Thursday signaled a huge opportunity for clean energy projects over the next six years to meet massive electricity demand from data centers, chip manufacturers, and a more electrified economy.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council, which guides energy policy across Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, forecasted that the region will need to add 9 gigawatts of wind and solar; 5 GWs of battery storage; about 2 GWs of gas; and 590 megawatts of demand response by 2032 to maintain reliability. That portfolio is the most cost-effective approach, the council said, with an annual price tag of about $2 billion a year to build out.
Jennifer Light, NPCC’s director of power planning, said there’s a need for standalone storage, but ideally it would be paired with solar. Co-locating these technologies will help reduce transmission costs and avoid solar curtailment.
The council’s plan marks a major shift from previous versions that focused more on energy efficiency, and could help transform the Pacific Northwest into an aggressive market for flexible clean power. For the first time, the NPCC recommended that utilities work with data center developers to bring their own resources like battery storage. It’s a nod to the bring-your-own capacity requirements that grid operators like PJM and some state regulators are considering. The council also said data centers should adhere to strict energy efficiency standards, particularly around cooling systems.
Only the Bonneville Power Authority — a federal nonprofit that provides a third of the Pacific Northwest’s power — is legally required to align its operations with the NPCC’s plan. But Light said investor owned utilities in the region generally work toward it as well.
Light acknowledged that there’s a lot of uncertainty ahead. It’s unclear how much data center load will actually show up, and it’s also difficult to build new generation and transmission infrastructure due long interconnection queues, permitting delays, and fights over who pays.
The BPA, which controls about 75% of the Pacific Northwest’s transmission lines, hasn’t built new long-distance lines in years. Since 2023 the authority has announced about $5 billion for upgrading and expanding infrastructure, including a transmission project that could connect Oregon and Nevada. The BPA didn’t return an interview request from Latitude Media.
More gas in Washington, despite clean energy law
Tech giants including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are expanding their data center footprints in Oregon and Washington, where cheap hydroelectric power is attractive. Both states have laws requiring 100% clean power by 2040 and 2045, respectively.
That means the majority of the 2 GW of gas that NPCC recommended would be sited in Idaho and Montana, Light said. However, some gas can still be built in Washington. And utilities in the state are already planning to build a fleet of gas plants, the Seattle Times reported. They argue that peaker plants are needed to keep the lights on during high demand, especially in extreme weather events, because renewables plus storage projects take up a lot of land.
The NPCC also said new gas peaker plants act as a hedge against seasonal lows in hydropower production — the foundation of the Pacific Northwest’s power system, supplying about half of its annual generation.
Federal scientists have found that climate change is shifting water availability throughout the year. Historically, mountain snowpack stored water until the late spring and summer. Now, due to rising temperatures, less snow accumulates on mountains and melts earlier in the year, which means hydropower generates more power during the winter and less during the spring and summer.
Now that the NPPC has issued its draft plan, the public has until October 16 to comment and public hearings will be held across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana. The council aims to finalize the plan by early 2027.
