By MONICA SAMAYOA/Oregon Public Broadcasting
The Northwest needs to build more wind, solar and gas-powered electricity, and fast, according to recommendations from a federal planning group.
Those recommendations were part of a draft that says Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington need to add 11 gigawatts of new electricity generation in the next five years.
That unprecedented growth, driven in part by demand from data centers, would add more energy to the region than the entire state of Oregon presently uses. The last 10 GW the region added took a decade to develop.
The growth in data centers, however, makes it hard to determine the actual amount of electricity the region will need in the future, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council said.
Its draft Ninth Northwest Power Plan, which could be revised, says it could cost an estimated $2.3 billion to build the new capacity and develop other ways to manage electrical use by 2032.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council was created in 1980 to guide how the region meets its electrical needs. Every five years it issues recommendations for the Bonneville Power Administration. Bonneville generates a third of the region’s electricity and owns more than 75% of the transmission lines that move that electricity to homes and businesses.
The draft Ninth Power Plan is the council’s latest five-year proposal. It forecasts the region will need 9 GW of renewables like solar and wind power, at least 2 GW of natural gas and 5 GW of battery storage by 2032.
“The Northwest’s power system will rely on a diverse mix of resources in the next 5-10 years,” NWPCC Director of Power Planning Jennifer Light said in a statement. “No single resource on its own will be able to meet our growing need for energy in the future.
Adding as much electricity as the NWPCC recommends could be an enormous challenge.
As OPB and ProPublica reported in 2025, Oregon and Washington rank near the bottom in the country when it comes to bringing new renewables online. The Trump administration has also rolled back tax breaks and federal support for renewable energy, making it even harder for the region to add more power sources to the grid and meet those states’ climate goals.
The NWPCC’s recommendations come at a time when demand for electricity is reaching new heights.
More people are switching from gasoline-powered vehicles and natural gas stoves to electric options, and power-hungry data centers are quickly plugging into the region’s grid. That’s making it difficult for power planners to determine exactly how much new electricity the region needs to generate to keep up with the demand.
The draft Ninth Power Plan report attempts to find that “Goldilocks” balance to avoid risks like blackouts by not building enough, or over-building new generation that ratepayers might foot the bill for.
Light said the council looked at multiple scenarios.
It found that data centers are the largest growth drivers in the near future, and will need about an additional 4 GW by 2030.
The council recommends creating a standard that ensures new data centers can be built as efficiently as possible, Light said.
Extreme weather risks like wildfires and ice storms that could impact transmission lines and delivery of power are also shaping the region’s energy needs. Other factors include inadequate transmission capacity and hydropower.
The Ninth Power Plan is open for public comment through Oct. 16. The power council expects to issue a final update later this year or early 2027.
This story was originally published on Aug. 13, 2026 by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
The local governments that have voted to allow data center development in their jurisdictions should be on the hook for helping subsidize new sources of power, including renewables.
Agreed…and for any environmental/human damage due to the data center’s use.