BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION
New report showcases the value of BPA's energy efficiency efforts in the Northwest

BPA's inaugural Energy Conservation Annual Review assesses, compiles and communicates BPA's FY 2021 conservation and energy efficiency accomplishments.

Conservation offers so many benefits that contribute to BPA's affordable, carbon-free, reliable and environmentally sustainable power system. - Bonnie Watson, BPA project manager

The benefits of BPA's and its customers' energy efficiency achievements reach far and wide - from kids who are breathing cleaner air in schools thanks to new, highly efficient HVAC systems, to an apple grower whose fruit stays fresher, longer. You can read about these accomplishments and more in a new report, the Energy Conservation Annual Review.

The purpose of the Annual Review is to assess, compile and communicate BPA's conservation and energy efficiency accomplishments. This document focuses on fiscal year 2021 accomplishments, as well as the achievements during the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's Seventh Plan action plan period, 2016 through 2021. This new document replaces the annual Conservation Resource Energy Data Book, known as the RED Book, summarizing cost and savings data with the addition of more context and narrative, including project success stories featuring utility customers from across the region.

"We are excited to release the Annual Review and highlight BPA and our customers' energy conservation achievements," said Jamae Hilliard Creecy, vice president of Energy Efficiency. "Over the last year, BPA and its customers delivered 84 average megawatts of programmatic, market transformation and momentum energy savings. These energy conservation investments reduce the need for us to acquire higher-cost resources to meet BPA's load obligations and represent the collaboration and innovation needed to meet the region's future energy needs."

The Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act passed of 1980 obligates BPA to acquire energy conservation. Since then, BPA and its customers have achieved an estimated 2,505 average megawatts of energy savings. That's more energy than the annual production of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest dam within the Federal Columbia River Power System. Energy efficiency is a resource, which, while not as obvious as a dam, is just as real. 

"Conservation offers so many benefits that contribute to BPA's affordable, carbon-free, reliable and environmentally sustainable power system," said Bonnie Watson, the BPA project manager who led the development of the Annual Review. "It has been a rewarding project to lead because it reaffirms how valuable conservation is as a solution to the challenges our industry faces."

Energy efficiency saves ratepayers $1.9 billion each year. Here are some FY 21 accomplishments:

• 84.1 aMW of energy savings acquired.
• 335,000 avoided tons of CO2e, equivalent to taking 73,000 cars off the road for a year.
• $63 million in bill savings for ratepayers, enough to fund 919 average wage jobs.
• 834 custom projects completed.
• 61,000 average Northwest homes powered annually by the energy saved.