BPA takes over Grand Coulee Dam switchyards from Reclamation after six-year effort

The Grand Coulee Dam (courtesy: The Bureau of Reclamation)

The largest hydropower facility in the U.S. is now on the other end of a six-year effort to transfer ownership of its critical electrical grid components.

The transfer of Grand Coulee’s 115-kilovolt, 230-kV, and 500-kV switchyards from the Bureau of Reclamation to BPA represents the largest asset transfer in BPA’s history. The move is intended to enable efforts to modernize the aging infrastructure at a lower cost than would otherwise be possible while preserving the reliability of assets that connect the power plant to the transmission grid.

“We are actively working to preserve the value of Grand Coulee and improve on the reliability of this critical piece to our federal transmission and power systems for the benefit of our ratepayers and the region. And we’re doing it in a way that helps significantly minimize rate pressures related to our modernization projects at each of these switchyards,” said John Hairston, BPA Administrator. “I am proud of the collaboration between Reclamation and BPA that has allowed both entities to focus on their areas of strength to the benefit of the Pacific Northwest.”

The transition will occur gradually over five years in an effort to provide reliability and ensure continued safety in switchyard operations. After the transition is complete, BPA expects to realize overall cost savings in annual operations and maintenance expenses, along with a reduction in overhead costs on capital modernization projects moving forward.

The transfer of the switchyard assets is expected to further improve transmission project planning related to Grand Coulee as well as support BPA’s execution of transmission asset investments consistent with the agency’s criticality, health, and risk framework. For Reclamation, the transfer removes the need for operations, maintenance work, and all requirements that come with being the designated owner of the assets.

“Transferring these valuable assets allows our agencies to continue to flourish and do what we do best – Reclamation’s commitment to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in the West and BPA’s role in providing reliable and affordable power,” said Jennifer Carrington, the Columbia-Pacific Northwest regional director for Reclamation.

BPA and other utilities in the West are seeing record levels of requests to integrate new renewable generation into the grid, as well as load growth across their service territories, BPA said. Within BPA’s balancing authority, Grand Coulee plays an outsized role in supporting both scenarios given its nameplate capacity of more than 7,000 MW and its ability to quickly ramp generation up and down.

“It’s foundational for the reliability and safety of our electrical grid that BPA have sufficient transmission infrastructure in place to leverage the value that Grand Coulee brings to our system,” said Richard Shaheen, the senior vice president of Transmission Services. “With direct access and ownership of the switchyards, we can quickly and effectively address some of the aging assets within these facilities to ensure Grand Coulee continues to perform its historic role in the Northwest and bring great value to the region.”

Grand Coulee is one of 31 federal dams and hydropower projects that generate more than half of the hydroelectric power produced in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. BPA delivers the power generated by the federal dams, one nonfederal nuclear plant, and several small nonfederal power plants to more than 140 Northwest electric utilities, serving millions of consumers and businesses in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, and parts of California, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.

Completed in 1941, Grand Coulee Dam serves as a multipurpose facility, providing water for irrigation, hydroelectric power production, flood control, fish and wildlife conservation, and recreation. The Grand Coulee Power facility is comprised of 33 generators in three power plants, the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant, and three switchyards.

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