News Release Details

Portland, OR (PRWEB) April 21, 2011

Portland General Electric Company (NYSE: POR) today issued a draft of a request for proposals (RFP) that is expected to open for bids in late July, seeking new electric generating resources to meet peak periods of demand for electricity and help integrate variable energy resources onto the grid. The draft RFP gives potential bidders an opportunity to review and ask questions about PGE's request in advance of the bidding window.

"Our goal is to acquire the resources our customers need at a reasonable cost through an open and impartial process — and we want to make certain potential bidders have all the information they need to be able to submit complete, competitive proposals that are ready to be executed," said Jim Lobdell, PGE's vice president for power operations and resource strategy.

The RFP will seek approximately 200 megawatts of year-round flexible and peaking resources, to help supply customers with electricity during peak demand periods and to help balance load as well as integrate increasing levels of variable energy resources such as wind. In addition, the RFP will ask for two seasonal peaking resources: Approximately 200 megawatts of bi-seasonal (winter and summer) peaking supply and approximately 150 megawatts of winter-only peaking supply. PGE plans to bring these resources online in the 2013-2015 timeframe.

PGE will hold two workshops to help inform interested parties and potential bidders and seek input on the draft RFP. On May 11, non-bidding stakeholders are invited to attend a workshop from 2 to 4:30 p.m. in the World Trade Center Conference Center, 121 SW Salmon Street in Portland, Oregon. On May 12, potential bidders are invited to attend a workshop from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at the same location.    
PGE is scheduled to submit a final draft RFP to the Oregon Public Utility Commission in late May. The commission will accept comments and a recommendation from its staff before deciding whether to allow the RFP to proceed in late July.

This RFP is conducted pursuant to guidelines established by the OPUC and is the first step in implementing a PGE integrated resource plan that the OPUC acknowledged in November 2010. Two additional RFPs, for renewable and baseload energy resources respectively, are planned for later this year. PGE expects to submit self-build "benchmark" proposals in each competitive bidding process for new resources.

Accion Group, Inc., an independent evaluator hired by the OPUC, will assist in conducting the RFP and reviewing bids to assure an open and impartial process. The independent evaluator will also provide an assessment of the bid scoring, including PGE's benchmark proposals, and short list selection resulting from the RFPs. The IE will then issue a closing report with a detailed assessment of the process and its results.

Further information on the RFPs, the workshops and the competitive bidding process is available online at PortlandGeneralRFP.accionpower.com.

About Portland General Electric Company
Portland General Electric, headquartered in Portland, Ore., is a vertically-integrated electric utility that serves more than 821,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Oregon. Visit our Web site at http://www.PortlandGeneral.com.

Safe Harbor Statement
All statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. They are not guarantees of future events. Rather, they are based on current expectations, estimates, beliefs and assumptions and are subject to uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a result, actual events or results may differ materially from the statements made. Forward-looking statements made in this press release include statements regarding the company's energy strategy for future periods, the implementation and outcome of requests for proposals, and the acquisition of additional capacity to meet customer demand. These forward-looking statements are based upon our assumptions about and assessment of the future, which may or may not prove true, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, risk factors detailed in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, the Company's reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

POR-F
Source: Portland General Electric Company

###

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/4/prweb8335659.htm

News Provided by Acquire Media