The Pacific Northwest’s Energy Future Depends on Collaboration: Reflections from the Regional Energy Symposium

Earlier this month in Portland, industry professionals, utility executives and policy-makers gathered for the Regional Energy Symposium, co-hosted by the Northwest Gas Association (NWGA), the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee (PNUCC), Public Generating Pool (PGP) and the Western Power Pool (WPP) to confront one of the region’s most pressing energy questions: how do gas and electric systems coordinate to deliver a clean, reliable and affordable future? The answer was emphatic and clear: the time for siloed planning is over.

A Critical Juncture

Emphasized at the Symposium, the Pacific Northwest is at a critical energy juncture. As demand for electricity surges — driven by electrification, rapid growth in data centers, and high-tech manufacturing — our region’s energy system is being tested like never before. Over the next decade, electricity demand in the Pacific Northwest is projected to increase by more than 30% — that’s equivalent to about seven extra Seattle’s of load. At the same time, utilities plan more than 29 GW of new generation capacity to meet this growth.

Significant headwinds, however, exist: delays in siting renewables, supply-chain constraints and infrastructure bottlenecks all threaten timely project delivery. Most critically, symposium speakers underscored that natural gas remains the second‐largest source of electricity in the Northwest (after hydropower) and is essential during renewable dips — yet the gas infrastructure is already strained during peak events.

That framing set the tone for the Symposium: this is not a theoretical discussion but an urgent operational and strategic challenge. The message to stakeholders — utilities, regulators, developers, policymakers and investors — was clear: reliability and decarbonization must go hand in hand, and coordination is the only way forward.

Key Themes from the Symposium

 Across the sessions, several recurring themes stood out:

1. Interdependence of Gas & Electric systems. Historically, the gas and electric sectors planned separately; today that is no longer viable. As the NWGA piece states: “A failure in one system can cascade into the other.” Presentations underscored how gas‐fired generation often leans on pipeline and storage systems, while gas infrastructure increasingly relies on electricity for compressors, controls and operations.

   
   

2. Infrastructure investment is overdue. The region is facing near-term reliability risks. The January 2024 cold snap, for example, forced the Northwest to rely on nearly 5,000 MW of imported power to avoid outages. Speakers stressed that to avoid major disruptions (or rising consumer costs), both gas and electric infrastructure — pipelines, storage, interties, transmission and distribution — require accelerated permitting and build-out.

   
   

3. Aligning planning, not just posture. Many presenters called for integrated or parallel planning for both sectors: joint scenario development, shared resource adequacy modeling, and coordinated emergency response plans. Several utility and pipeline executives admitted that in the past the sectors did not “talk enough,” but now the stakes demand it.

   
   

4. Regulatory & policy alignment needed. Permitting delays, fragmented jurisdictional frameworks and mismatched incentives (for example, gas decarbonization vs. electrification mandates) are slowing progress. The Symposium featured panelists advocating for streamlined siting, regulatory reform and incentive alignment to reflect the interdependent nature of the system.

   
   

5. The dual mandate: reliability + affordability + decarbonization. Ultimately, the region must deliver on all three. A clean system that fails is unacceptable — as is a reliable system that dilutes affordability. These themes were woven into every session, reflecting the user community’s interest in actionable strategies and realistic pathways.

Implications for the Pacific Northwest

For energy professionals in the Pacific Northwest, the symposium reinforced several actionable insights:

• Early coordination matters — planning gas and electric systems together (scenario design, load/generation alignment, infrastructure sequencing) will reduce reliability risk and cost.

• Infrastructure timelines are tight — as Seelig’s forecast confirms, planned generation and capacity additions are ambitious. But delays are symptomatic of the system-wide challenge. NWGA

• Permit & regulatory reform will unlock value — several speakers stressed that permitting delays are not just a policy issue; they threaten the business case for investment.

• Innovative solutions are already relevant — Renewable Natural Gas, hydrogen-ready pipelines, hybrid heating systems, demand response, grid-edge storage: all are part of the portfolio.

• Stakeholder alignment is essential — utilities, regulators, developers, communities and financiers must speak a common language around system reliability, affordability and decarbonization.

  
  

Within the broader conversation — one you routinely reference in your work tracking NWGA, PNUCC, Guidehouse and ICF reports — the message is consistent: No longer can the gas world and the electric world act in isolation if the region is to deliver a clean, dependable, affordable energy future.

Looking Ahead

The symposium underscored that reliability risk is not a distant scenario but an immediate operational reality: delays in resource delivery, supply chain disruptions, and extreme weather events — all combine to elevate risk. For the Pacific Northwest, customizing strategies that integrate gas-electric system coordination will be a core differentiator over the next decade.

In practical terms: utilities should revisit their IRPs and scenario planning frameworks to incorporate gas-electric interdependencies explicitly; developers should engage both gas and electric stakeholders early; regulators should test frameworks for joint planning, data‐sharing and emergency response; investors should stress-test business models for reliability‐adjacent risk; and engineers should design for system flexibility across fuels, loads and weather.

For your organization — whether you’re in utility planning, policy advocacy, or infrastructure development — the takeaway is clear: we are entering a new era of energy system coordination. The question is no longer if gas and electric sectors must link arms, but how swiftly, structurally and robustly they will. The Regional Energy Symposium provided important momentum — now the hard work begins.

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