Resource Additions
While the Seventh Power Plan anticipated and included in its existing resource base the commissioning of Carty and about 400 megawatts of solar PV, the remaining new and proposed resources were driven by PURPA agreements, state renewable portfolio standards, clean policy targets and goals, utility green tariff energy programs, and individual utility needs based on integrated resource plans.
A recent and growing trend in the region and nation is the direct acquisition of renewable energy by corporations as part of their clean energy initiatives and commitments, as opposed to purchasing power through a utility. As an example, Avangrid – a resource developer and operator - commissioned the Gala Solar project in 2017 and the Montague wind facility in 2019 in Oregon to fulfill its partnership with Apple and deliver clean energy directly to the corporation. As a response to this trend, in order to preserve their corporate customers, utilities are offering green power initiatives to secure renewable energy on behalf of their large customers.
Green tariffs enable a utility to facilitate the procurement of renewable energy for interested qualifying large customers through either utility development and ownership of a project or via long-term power purchase contract between a utility and an independent power producer’s renewable project. The resource is not included in the utility’s own rate base and non-participating customers do not bear any of the costs or risks. In exchange, the customers receive the renewable energy and the associated renewable energy credits (RECs) often at a lower cost and with less risk than direct acquisition due to cost sharing with the utility and other potential subscribers to the program. The bundled RECs are retired by the customers and do not count towards the utility’s RPS compliance, if applicable. As of 2020, Washington and Oregon are the only states in the region offering renewable energy programs under a green tariff program.
The following describes resource developments over the past five years.
- Solar – At the time of the Seventh Plan adoption, the first utility-scale solar PV projects in the region were coming online in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon. The initial wave of solar development was primarily PURPA qualifying facilities, typically (though not always, depending on state rules) small projects 20 megawatts or less in size. Since the cost of solar PV dropped so dramatically over the past decade, solar is now being developed to meet a variety of needs including utility and corporate renewable and clean energy policies and goals, as well as a replacement resource for retiring coal units. There are now over 1,000 megawatts installed solar capacity operating across the four northwest states, plus an additional ~160 megawatts of solar in Utah serving PacifiCorp that is included in the region’s existing resource baseline.
- Wind – As federal tax incentives began phasing down over the last few years, wind development has increased as developers and owners take advantage of the credits before they expire. Some of this wind development has included repowering existing projects – replacing aging wind turbine components with new, more efficient machines – in order to re-qualify for incentives, maintain the best wind resource sites, extend the project’s useful life, and improve the capacity and efficiency of the project. Since the Seventh Power Plan, about 1,800 MW of new wind power (not including repowered projects) has come online, although a large portion of those megawatts are physically located outside the region and serving the Pacific Northwest utilities through power purchase agreements.
- Natural Gas – In July 2016, Portland General Electric commissioned its Carty Generating Station, a 440 megawatts natural gas combined cycle combustion turbine. While Carty came online following the adoption of the Seventh Plan, it was included in the existing system as it was under construction at the time. Other than Carty, there have been no new developments of natural gas projects in the region.
- Hydropower – In 2018, Snohomish PUD added 12 megawatts of new low impact hydropower through two projects on the Snoqualmie River. In addition, the continued widespread effort to upgrade aging hydropower projects through equipment replacements and rewinds has resulted in additional capacity and efficiency from the existing system.
- Biomass – The development of new biomass projects has been limited, with just two small landfill gas plants coming online in Idaho in the past few years. While not huge power producers, these small plants often fit into the natural operation cycle of the business and can generate electricity to meet on-site loads or to sell surplus electricity to off-takers.
- Energy Storage – Several utilities have developed small battery storage projects at pilot scale, the total of these projects adding up to only a few megawatts. There are however, significant solar + battery hybrid projects and pumped hydro storage projects planned and proposed for the region. As the cost of both solar and batteries has declined, combining the resources helps shape the solar resource and reduce the need for curtailments. Pumped hydro storage developers are looking to play a role in the new energy paradigm where coal units are retiring, and variable energy resources like wind and solar are coming online as potential replacement resources and to meet renewable and clean energy policies.