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SALT LAKE CITY — Rocky Mountain Power parent company PacifiCorp released a biennial draft of its long-term energy plan Thursday, calling for increases in wind and solar output while planning to shutter some coal facilities over the next decade.
The 2019 Integrated Resource Plan includes more than 3,500 megawatts of new wind generation by 2025; 3,000 MW of new solar power by 2025; 600 MW of battery storage by 2025; 400 miles of transmission line construction; and the retirement of 16 of PacifiCorp’s 24 coal units by 2030.
Megawatts generally refer to a source’s peak capacity and do not represent the average output of an energy source. Jon Cox, vice president of governmental affairs for Rocky Mountain Power, said Wednesday that 1 megawatt of energy can power about 800 homes.
Rocky Mountain Power communications manager Spencer Hall called the 2019 plan an “inflection point in the history of the company.”
“I think traditionally, everybody understood that you fire up a coal plant and you run it full speed and power everybody, and it was as simple as that,” Hall said. “Now we’re kind of entering a new era where energy production, customers want a different kind of mix, they want low emissions, and we share that value.
“It’s really kind of a new beginning,” he said.
The company’s 2019 plan is a 20-year projection of PacifiCorp’s energy portfolio. It includes, for the first time, plans for battery storage of solar power that will allow solar energy to be used after it is collected. Though solar panels’ peak capacity comes at midday when the sun is highest, peak consumption generally occurs in the evening hours, Cox said.
“So essentially, what the storage would be there for is to help save some of that electricity, some of that solar in the middle of the day, or 3 p.m., for a couple of hours until the peak,” he said.
PacifiCorp also announced the closure, ultimately, of 20 of the company’s 24 coal units by 2038, including some units which will be shuttered earlier than the previous timetable. These earlier closures include Wyoming’s Jim Bridger Unit 1 (2023) and 2 (2028); Wyoming’s Naughton 1 and 2 (2025); Colorado’s Craig 2 (2026); and Montana’s Colstrip 3 and 4 (2027).
Additional closures will take place as scheduled in the 2017 Integrated Resource Plan. Hall said the company does not anticipate layoffs as a result of the closures, as the plants will not cease production all at once and much of its workforce is nearing retirement age.
“It’s industry-wide, not just with us, but over 50% of our employees are over age 60,” Cox said.
In a news release, PacifiCorp said it will construct a 400-mile transmission line called Gateway South to connect southeastern Wyoming and northern Utah. The company is already building a 140-mile segment, Gateway West, in Wyoming.
“Making the necessary long-term investments to relieve transmission congestion will allow development of additional renewable resources in the near-term and facilitate long-term growth of the region,” said Chad Teply, PacifiCorp senior vice president for business policy and development, in the release.
Cox said that the new Integrated Resource Plan will result in a carbon emissions reduction of 43% by 2025 and 59% by 2030, as compared to a 2005 baseline. A 2017 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report said a 45% reduction in global carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, from a 2010 baseline, would likely be sufficient to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
We’re kind of entering a new era where energy production, customers want a different kind of mix, they want low emissions, and we share that value.
The report says the world would then need to reach net-zero emissions by approximately 2050.
“You have seen utilities across the country start to make 100% (reduction) commitments, or 90% commitments, or 80% commitments, by 2040, 2050,” Cox said. “What’s always so interesting about those commitments is that they’re heavily caveated in the out years, so they’ll always say it’s pending some new technology to allow them to get there.
“And so our focus as a company has been on the near-term deliverables, sort of focusing, especially, as you get to 2030,” he said. “What can we actually deliver in carbon reductions?”
He said PacifiCorp will continue to monitor technological innovations in its long-term goal to achieve net-zero emissions.
And through HB411, which passed earlier this year, communities like Salt Lake City and Park City can work with Rocky Mountain Power to achieve 100% renewably sourced energy by 2030. Cox said a more aggressive timetable, called for by some local politicians, would require the passage of new legislation.
“Salt Lake City and Park City have some of the most aggressive sustainability and clean energy goals in the country,” Hall said. “(Salt Lake City) Mayor (Jackie) Biskupski … testified before Congress and called the partnership that she has with Rocky Mountain Power ‘unprecedented.’”
The 2019 Integrated Resource Plan comes one day after local groups celebrated National Energy Efficiency Day with a news release calling on Rocky Mountain Power to maintain and expand its Wattsmart program, which provides incentives and rebates to help utility customers choose energy-efficient technologies.
PacifiCorp will now file its finalized Integrated Resource Plan with state regulatory commissions by Oct. 18, according to the news release.
