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PNGC Power is having an epic growth spurt.
Between 2023 and 2024, the generation and transmission co-op's membership, meters, miles of power lines, sales and assets all nearly doubled.
Now with 25 distribution co-op members and operations in seven states, PNGC Power ranks as the Bonneville Power Administration's biggest customer and plans to use its size and load diversity to secure reliable energy while limiting exposure to rising market rates as its next contract comes up for negotiation in 2028.
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“We are paving the way for a new future in the Northwest," says PNGC Power President and CEO Jessica Matlock. “With a larger voice, we have a bigger impact on policy. We're more in charge of our destiny."
PNGC was started by 11 Northwest co-ops as a power-buying group during the energy crisis of the mid-1970s. Over the decades, it has expanded its power resource portfolio, member base and the breadth of services it provides.
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Now, PNGC Power's membership covers seven Northwest and Western states, and their members are facing large increases in load forecasts amid challenges to baseload supply, including
threats to remove four dams on the Lower Snake River. The G&T expects its overall load to exceed 1,400 megawatts by 2028 and 1,800 MW in the early 2040s. That doesn't include the possibility of new data centers targeting PNGC Power's territory for its abundant supply of hydropower.
Matlock says PNGC Power will “not just rely on Bonneville to meet these challenges. We're going to band together as co-ops, and we're going to be a part of the solution in the future."
Already, baseload generation plants and power purchase agreements are under consideration while the G&T continues to line up more resources.
A 190-MW solar project developed by NewSun in Crook County, Oregon, will begin providing energy to PNGC Power members in late 2026.
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A 40-MW solar and 10-MW battery project that PNGC Power developed with Redmond, Oregon-based
Central Electric Cooperative is also in the planning phase. The G&T helped secure the project site by leasing property from a generational farmer who stood to lose her land to drought conditions.
“This project doesn't just check the box on clean energy and local reliability because it's solar and battery, but it also benefits one of our members at the end of the line," Matlock says.
PNGC Power has also partnered with
Ravalli Electric Cooperative in Victor, Montana, on a 1-MW battery project to power 800 homes for four hours.
Matlock served nearly five years as CEO of
La Plata Electric Association in Durango, Colorado, before taking the helm of PNGC Power last year, helping grow the membership. She attributes the G&T's boom to the desire among co-ops to be part of the solution to the resource adequacy problems the region is facing.
“Our members started to think there's got to be another way," Matlock says. “We're going to enter the fray, and we're going to be a leader in the region on how we meet these challenges. We are stronger together."
