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The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) recently announced plans to spend more than $2 billion in the Pacific Northwest to increase the “capacity and reliability” of the energy grid, stated a news release from the office of U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington.
Washington will receive $1.35 billion of those investments, the news release said, ultimately increasing the grid’s capacity by up to the amount of power needed for 4.5 million homes.
In Washington, the funds will boost power that can be moved along four existing transmission lines, including one that runs through Chehalis.
Titled the “Chehalis-Cowlitz Tap Rebuild,” the release said the project will upgrade 35 miles of transmission between BPA’s Chehalis Substation in Chehalis and the Cowlitz Tap in Frederickson.
This would reportedly enable the integration of renewable resources and mitigate the impact of planned natural gas generation retirements, per the news release. This project is expected to be completed in late 2027 or early 2028.
In July 2021, Cantwell authored a bipartisan amendment that eventually resulted in a $10 billion increase in BPA’s borrowing authority, the news release stated.
“Revitalizing our region’s energy system to meet future demand will require a massive buildout of new clean generation sources and transmission capacity,” said Cantwell in the statement from her office.
