Electric resource planning
The Eugene Water & Electric Board is committed to providing its customers with reliable,
cost-effective sources of power that have minimal impact on the environment.
More than 95% of the electricity EWEB needs to serve its customers
comes from hydropower, wind and other sources that do not generate carbon-based emissions that are
linked to global warming.
Most of this electricity comes from the federal Bonneville Power Administration and from EWEB's own
hydroelectric projects. EWEB also has been at the forefront of renewable energy resource development.
We were the first public utility in Oregon to own a wind farm, and now own or contract for
portions of four wind farms and four biomass cogeneration plants.
See charts illustrating where EWEB gets its electricity and its resources by type.
Take a tour of EWEB-owned generation resources.
See details about EWEB's long-term contracts.
Acquiring new sources of electricity, such as renewable power,
is the result of a careful planning process used by EWEB for the past 25
years to determine what energy resources it will need in the future. The Integrated Electric Resource
Plan is updated every few years with the help of citizens.
EWEB's current plan includes the following two directions:
- Continue conservation programs, and ramp up if EWEB's need for power goes up
- Increase the diversity of EWEB's energy resource portfolio, with a
preference for renewable resources and local cogeneration
Since the completion of the last IERP in 2004, EWEB's conservation programs have saved
an additional 142 million kilowatt hours, which reduced EWEB's total demand by 5.8%
below what it would have been without our programs. EWEB has also acquired potions
of two new wind projects and two biomass cogeneration projects with combined output
of 275 million kilowatt hours per year.
EWEB is beginning the process of creating the 2011 Integrated Electric Resource Plan. Read
about the process and see related documents.
EWEB last updated its IERP in 2004. See the following documents for details:
EWEB's Board of Commissioners adopted a five-year Energy Conservation Resource Strategy in 2008.