Andy Wendell, PUD senior manager of large power solutions, said the cap addresses a physical problem, which is that anticipated demand would exceed the capacity of the actual electrical distribution system, such as transmission lines.
"If we allow that growth to happen at the pace we're hearing from our customers, we're going to have some significant problems in our transmission system, including concerns with reliability," Wendell said.
The PUD routinely asks customers for their estimates of future power demand, part of a process called load growth forecasting. It's done periodically throughout the year, and Wendell said the last forecast included the possibility of a lot more demand.
"With the onset of (artificial intelligence) and other computing space, we have realized a significant increase in demand for energy from primarily our data center customers," he said. "We started to observe that in late 2024 and certainly into this year."
Wendell said the challenge to the transmission system is entirely separate from the question of supply. The PUD receives about 63% of the electricity generated by the Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams. Utility district officials have long projected that the PUD will use all of its share by 2026. But the PUD would have a challenge with the transmission system irrespective of the supply problem, he said.
"The generation (and) energy sources are really a separate issue," Wendell said. "The issue at hand today is being able to transmit that from the source, which is the Columbia River grid in most cases, out to the load center, which in this case is Quincy."
As of now, the challenge is limited to data centers.
"This is really limited to our industrial customers. The PUD is still able to allow growth in other customer classes, such as commercial, residential, ag, irrigation and other areas. We're not hanging a sign on the door that says, 'We're closed for business.'"
There's still a little room for data centers to grow, he said, and they can continue their current operations.
"We're not asking our customers to curtail load, (to) reduce load. In all cases, our load limits give them an opportunity to grow between what they're consuming today and where that load limit is. There's still some growth potential in there for those customers," Wendell said.
There's not a lot of room left, though.
"We really anticipate folks hitting those caps in the third and fourth quarter of 2025, based on what they've signaled," Wendell said.
The PUD is working on additional transmission capacity, including a new high-capacity line from Wanapum Dam to Quincy, he said. Those are long-term projects — the line to Quincy is projected for completion in 2029. Another is scheduled for completion in 2027.
"It just takes a long time to build those transmission lines, to permit them, to get the land use rights, easements, the materials and labor to construct them are years and years in the planning. They just don't happen overnight," he said. "That's the challenge with them."
© 2025 the Columbia Basin Herald, Wash.. Visit www.columbiabasinherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
