Credit score: By Tim Fitzpatrick | Jan. 1, 2024; Up to date: Jan. 2, 2024 | sltrib.com ~~
Clear-energy advocates and state regulators are pushing again on Rocky Mountain Energy’s 20-year plan for offering electrical energy in Utah, saying the corporate is counting on unproven applied sciences and hasn’t proven it may well meet the plan’s timeline.
Rocky Mountain’s father or mother firm PacifiCorp final September suspended its request for proposals for brand spanking new vitality tasks, and environmental teams and shopper advocates say that impedes the short-term targets of the corporate’s 20-year “built-in useful resource plan” (IRP).
Launched final spring, the corporate’s IRP set an bold schedule for including 20,000 megawatts of photo voltaic and wind energy by 2032 and an extra 7,400 megawatts in storage so the photo voltaic and wind energy is out there in any respect hours. It additionally moved up the closure dates of its Emery County coal-fired energy vegetation to 2032, when it plans to launch smaller nuclear energy vegetation in the identical areas.
By suspending its procurement course of, the corporate is “doubtlessly rendering just about each facet of the IRP irrelevant and moot,” mentioned the Interwest Power Alliance, a commerce group of photo voltaic and wind vitality firms that desires to promote clear energy to PacifiCorp. It was one among a number of teams to name on the Utah Public Service Fee to not approve the plan.
For its half, Rocky Mountain/Pacificorp says the suspension was crucial to judge the quickly altering vitality atmosphere within the West. The corporate is scheduled to offer an replace to the Public Service Fee by the tip of January.
“January is a key date,” Rick Hyperlink, senior vp for useful resource planning procurement and optimization at PacifiCorp, informed an October assembly of stakeholders.
The corporate cited 4 causes for suspending its request for proposals for brand spanking new vitality sources:
- A court docket’s keep of the U.S. Environmental Safety Company’s proposed Ozone Transport Rule, which might require the coal vegetation so as to add costly air pollution controls and/or scale back burning in the course of the peak summer season months.
- Future federal guidelines relating to greenhouse gasoline emissions, “with impacts on our system to be decided.”
- Wildfire danger and related legal responsibility, together with a category motion lawsuit in Oregon that would price the corporate thousands and thousands in settlement prices.
- “Evolving excessive climate dangers that necessitate additional choice making relating to PacifiCorp’s operational and useful resource necessities.”
Rocky Mountain’s plan consists of methods for lowered operation of the coal vegetation to adjust to the Ozone Switch Rule. With the corporate now saying it was re-evaluating in mild of a court docket keep of the rule, environmental teams surprise if which means the corporate will burn extra coal, which is probably the most climate-damaging fossil gas.
“You’re pausing extra clear vitality sources to resolve an issue that gasoline and coal have brought about. That appears a bit of loopy to me,” Paula Decker, a board member on the Sierra Membership’s Utah chapter, informed that very same October assembly.
Rocky Mountain/PacifiCorp officers downplay the procurement pause and say it gained’t materially have an effect on their longterm plans. Additionally they say they’re persevering with to hunt new vitality sources even with out the formal request for proposals. “We take this procurement course of fairly severely,” mentioned Hyperlink. “The suspended RFP course of doesn’t relieve us of that obligation.”
The Sierra Membership can be difficult the plan for changing the coal vegetation with nuclear vegetation, arguing that the not but working Natrium reactors will depend on unproven know-how that’s unlikely to be prepared within the early 2030s when Rocky Mountain mentioned it could make the change from coal.
“It isn’t a foregone conclusion that reliability shortfalls have to be met with nuclear vitality,” mentioned Sierra Membership lawyer Rose Monahan. “There are different mixtures of assets that may equally meet reliability wants.”
All of the planning takes place in a authorized course of on the PSC that in its greatest days strikes at a snail’s tempo. However on this case Rocky Mountain filed its plan late after which suspended its procurement course of, leaving regulators scrambling to maintain up with shifting targets.
“It appears like lots of time being spent in limbo,” mentioned Michele Beck, director of the Utah Workplace of Client Companies, which advocates for Rocky Mountain’s Utah clients.
The Utah Workplace of Client Companies, the state company that advocates for residential electrical energy clients, additionally calls on the PSC to not approve the plan, and it additionally cites the delayed planning and procurement processes. It additionally questioned why nuclear and hydrogen-fueled “peaker” vegetation got choice over pure gasoline and geothermal applied sciences.
The Utah Division of Public Utilities, the state entity charged with finishing up the rules that the Public Service Fee units, mentioned the PSC ought to reject Rocky Mountain’s plans for a number of causes, together with the suspension of procurement and the inclusion of unproven nuclear know-how.
The Utah Affiliation of Power Customers, which represents giant industrial electrical energy clients, asks PSC to not approve, citing the delayed course of and considerations that the nuclear know-how hasn’t been sufficiently vetted.
Two clean-energy advocates, Western Useful resource Advocates and Utah Clear Power, weren’t against the PSC approving the plan, however each famous weaknesses within the course of and schedule. Utah Clear Power additionally referred to as for future plans to contemplate extra geothermal assets.
Texas-based Fervo Power additionally mentioned the PSC shouldn’t approve the plan as a result of it hasn’t given ample consideration to enhanced geothermal vitality. Fervo not too long ago began working the nation’s first enhanced geothermal plant within the Nevada, the place water is pumped underground via scorching rock to provide scorching water that may generate energy. Fervo is working to launch an analogous plant in Beaver County. Not like wind and solar energy sources, geothermal vegetation can produce clear vitality repeatedly.
