Electric Power

Issues Concerning Expansion of the Pacific Northwest-Southwest Intertie Gao ID: RCED-88-199 September 14, 1988

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) plans to expand the Pacific Northwest-Southwest Intertie, focusing on the: (1) BPA justification for the expansion; (2) relationship of Canadian power imports to the intertie expansion; and (3) potential impacts on salmon and steelhead trout.

GAO found that: (1) BPA estimated that its costs for the 1600-megawatt (MW) addition would be $327 million, the net economic benefit of the addition through 2030 would be $661 million, and its share of net benefits would be $199 million; (2) BPA projected losses for the first 4 years and estimated that it would take 18 years to recover its investment; and (3) it was unclear whether the second 800-MW increment of capacity increase would result in net benefits to BPA. GAO also found that BPA estimated that: (1) Canada could receive $161 million of the net benefits and could further benefit if it decided to increase exports; and (2) losses of salmon and steelhead trout related to the expansion would be under 3 percent, but made its estimates with a controversial computer model called FISHPASS.

Recommendations

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