Idaho Power Company (IPC) is a regulated
electrical power utility. Its business involves the purchase, sale,
generation
A generation is all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It also is "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–30 years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and b ...
,
transmission and
distribution Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
*Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
*Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...
of
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
in eastern
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
and southern
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
. It is a subsidiary of
IDACORP, Inc. The company's service area generally follows the area around the
Snake River
The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Begin ...
and its tributaries.
Idaho Power owns and operates 17
hydroelectric dams
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also ...
[Idaho Power Company]
Hydroelectric
. March 10, 2011. and three
natural gas
Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
power plants. IPC also owns shares of one
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal i ...
-fired power plants.
[Idaho Power Company]
April 12, 2024.
In 2023, electricity sold by IPC was 36.8% hydroelectric, 15.4% natural gas, 13.0% coal, 9.8% wind, 5.4% solar, and, 2.3% geothermal, biomass & other, and 17.3% purchased from other generation companies.
[Idaho Power Company]
April 12, 2024.
History
Idaho Power Company originally filed for incorporation in
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
on May 6, 1915. It was reincorporated in Idaho as a subsidiary of
IDACORP, Inc on October 1, 1998.
This was followed by the purchase of the assets of five small southern Idaho power companies: Idaho-Oregon Light & Power; Great Shoshone and Twin Falls Water Power; Idaho Railway, Light & Power; Idaho Power & Light; and Southern Idaho Water Power Company.
In 2018 Idaho Power sponsored the annual "Drive Electric Week" car show event at the state capitol. At the show people can learn about
electric vehicle
An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...
s. Interest in electric vehicles has increased because of changing gas prices, improvements in battery technology, concerns for the environment and federal tax incentives for buying electric vehicles. To respond to customer interest, Idaho Power added tools to its website to guide customers investigating purchasing an electric vehicle.
In 2019, Idaho Power set a goal to provide 100-percent clean energy by 2045. In addition to its hydropower facilities, which typically meet almost half its customers’ energy demands, Idaho Power plans additional investments in wind, solar and other clean sources. Clean energy resources are becoming more affordable, which could help Idaho Power accomplish its goal while keeping prices fair. Grid upgrades and battery-storage technology should help maintain Idaho Power's impressive reliability while moving the company closer to its goal. Continued energy efficiency efforts will help. Clean energy initiatives are not new to Idaho Power. In 2009, the company adopted a resolution to reduce carbon emissions. Idaho Power has reduced its carbon emissions intensity — measured in pounds of carbon dioxide () per megawatt-hour — by almost 50 percent since 2005. The company has entered agreements to end participation in two coal plants and is exploring exiting a third — and final — coal plant.
Hydroelectricity
IPC's 17
hydroelectric power plants have a generation nameplate capacity of 1,988,615 kilowatts,
and it is one of the nation's few investor-owned utilities with a significant hydroelectric generating base. Four-fifths of Idaho's electricity generation is from hydroelectric. Idaho Power built the majority of its hydroelectric facilities during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, culminating with completion of the three-dam Hells Canyon Complex (
Brownlee Dam,
Oxbow Dam
Oxbow Dam is a hydroelectric run-of-the-river rockfill dam in the western United States, on the Snake River in Hells Canyon ( river mile 273) along the Idaho-Oregon border.
Description
Completed in 1961, the dam is part of the Hells Canyon ...
, then
Hells Canyon Dam) in 1968.
*
American Falls Dam power plant at
river mile
A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its river mouth, mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometre, kilometers is the river kilometer. They are an ...
714.7.
*
Milner Dam power plant at river mile 639.1.
*
Twin Falls power plant at river mile 617.4.
*
Shoshone Falls
Shoshone Falls ( ) is a waterfall in the Western United States, western United States, on the Snake River in Magic Valley, south-central Idaho, approximately northeast of the city of Twin Falls, Idaho, Twin Falls. Sometimes called the "Niagara o ...
power plant at river mile 614.7.
* Clear Lake power plant at river mile 593.0.
* Thousand Springs power plant at river mile 584.7.
* "Mid-Snakes Project" in Central Idaho on the Snake River consisting of the Upper Salmon Falls power plant (river mile 580.8), the Lower Salmon Falls power plant (river mile 573.0), and the
Bliss Dam power plant at river mile 560.3.
* "The Malads": Upper Malad and Lower Malad power plants at river mile 571.2.
*
Cascade Dam power plant on the
Payette River
The Payette River () is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 3, 2011 river in southwestern Idaho and a major tributary of the Snake River.
Its headwaters originate in ...
.
*
C. J. Strike Dam power plant at river mile 494.0.
*
Swan Falls Dam power plant at river mile 457.7.
* "Hells Canyon Complex": Brownlee Dam power plant at river mile 285.0, Oxbow Dam power plant at river mile 272, and the Hells Canyon Dam power plant at river mile 251.
See also
*
List of companies based in Idaho
References
External links
*http://www.idahopower.com/
{{authority control
Companies based in Boise, Idaho
Electric power companies of the United States
Hydroelectric power companies of the United States
American companies established in 1915
1915 establishments in Maine
1998 establishments in Idaho