(Source: Business Wire)Portland General Electric Company (PGE) (NYSE:POR) today filed a comprehensive resource plan with the Oregon Public Utility Commission, outlining proposed strategies to meet its customers' electricity needs over the next 20 years. The plan is the result of many months of analysis and research, including a half-dozen day-long public workshops held over the course of the planning process to solicit input from customer advocates, regulators, energy experts, and other key stakeholders.

"We've engaged customers and stakeholders in an 18-month planning process to help us identify the best way to continue supplying Oregonians with reliable electricity at a reasonable cost," said Jim Piro, president and CEO of PGE. "PGE has 120 years of experience in this business, but planning for energy needs over a 20-year horizon into the future is a major challenge. We work hard to weigh all of the costs and risks to achieve the most responsible balance possible for our customers."

PGE projects that demand for electricity in the area it serves will increase by an average of 2.3 percent per year or 20 percent by 2020. PGE's plan includes a four-year strategy for acquisition of new resources and a 20-year strategy that outlines long term expectations for the utility's resource needs and portfolio performance.

The four-year resource acquisition plan targets:

All energy efficiency measures identified as achievable by the Energy Trust of Oregon -- which PGE expects would meet nearly half of PGE's load growth from now through 2020.

New renewable resources to meet Oregon's renewable energy standard requirements on or ahead of schedule.

Demand-side resources -- measures that can reliably deliver short-term reductions in customer demand to help manage loads during peak periods.

New, efficient natural gas-fired generation with state-of-the-art turbines and pollution controls to serve existing load, meet additional load growth and maintain reliability standards. This would include 300 to 500 megawatts of baseload capacity and 100 to 200 megawatts of flexible peak load resources.

Short- and mid-term market purchases.

Installation of major emissions control retrofits on PGE's coal-fired generating plant near Boardman, Oregon, to comply with rules adopted by the state Environmental Quality Commission last spring.