Utilities and lawmakers in the Northwest agree the Bonneville Power Administration’s next administrator must focus on building transmission and take risks to make that happen.

The Bonneville Power Administration could end up revising its rates to tackle the financial fallout of a federal judge in Oregon ordering increased spill levels at eight dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Republicans in the U.S. House introduced a bill to increase the salary for the head of the Bonneville Power Administration in an attempt to make the position more competitive and attractive as the agency searches for its next leader.

Puget Sound Energy and Avista told the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission they have taken steps to build clean energy resources quickly to qualify for expiring federal tax credits, while voicing concern that limited transmission capacity and the state’s greenhouse gas targets pose challenges.

The Bonneville Power Administration’s planned departure from the Western Energy Imbalance Market has prompted questions about how the agency will handle the yearlong period before it joins SPP’s Markets+.

BPA released its draft proposed decision to join SPP’s Markets+, saying that preparations have advanced to a point where it can “move forward with implementation and propose joining Markets+ in October 2028.”

The Bonneville Power Administration opened the selection process for the agency’s next administrator via an online job posting, prompting questions about the salary range and the level of input Northwestern lawmakers will have.

A federal judge in Oregon ordered increased spill levels at eight dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers in order to protect endangered salmon species, rejecting claims that doing so would impede power generation.

The consequences of the Bonneville Power Administration’s decision to join SPP’s Markets+ could hit the Northwest sooner rather than later even though the agency has yet to formally join the market, a group of nonprofits suing it over the choice told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.