Involving Stakeholders Helps Agency to Find Best Option

摘要

Like most parts of the country, the Pacific Northwest's power transmission system is stretched to its limits. To deal with it, the Bonneville Power Administration is planning to expand the grid by as much as 155 miles. But at the same time, it is changing its public approach to make sure that construction is the best way to go. To smooth the contentious approval process and find cost-effective solutions to power congestion, the Portland, Ore.-based agency in early 2003 established a roundtable to examine nonconstruction alternatives. It involved potential stakeholders from the beginning. "That we are seriously considering all transmission alternatives...increases the comfort level of stakeholders," says Brian Silverstein, BPA's manager of network planning.