Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council approves certification for Boardman to Hemingway transmission line to span five counties

A new transmission line intended to shuffle power across five eastern Oregon counties and connect the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West gained a critical permit from the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council this week.

The state site certification for the 290-mile Boardman to Hemingway transmission line followed permissions already granted by federal agencies, allowing it to cross federally managed land. With construction expected to start in 2023, the line is meant to incorporate a growing amount of clean energy onto the grid while keeping two separate regions running at different times as energy use peaks in the winter for the Pacific Northwest but in the summer for the Intermountain West.

“It would be hard to overstate the importance of this project, not just for Idaho Power customers, but for homes, businesses, and farms all across the western U.S.,” Lindsay Barretto, Idaho Power’s 500-kilovolt and joint projects senior manager, said. “More and more energy from wind, solar and other sources is coming online. Better transmission connections to surrounding regions will help incorporate this clean energy while enhancing grid reliability and keeping customer prices affordable.”

Idaho Power’s Hemingway substation in southwest Idaho will be one of the endpoints for the project. The other will be at a new station near Boardman, Oregon. According to Idaho Power, the B2H will also help it provide 100 percent clean energy by 2045 while assisting similar goals of other Western energy providers.

The project will be jointly owned by Idaho Power and PacifiCorp when finished.