Positive change is on the horizon for Rocky Mountain Power customers. Nearly 3,250 megawatts of new, low-cost clean energy resources including solar, wind, and batteries were announced as “shortlisted projects” by Rocky Mountain Power’s parent company, PacifiCorp.
The shortlisted projects are the final pool of potential resources that the utility can choose from. All electricity types were eligible for the shortlist, but it was renewable energy that dominated.
Choosing Energy Resources to Power Our Lives
PacifiCorp solicited and selected this list of resources in response to its 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which laid out what combination of energy resources that it plans to use to power the lives of its customers. The IRP calls upon the utility to identify the resources that provide customers with the least-cost, least-risk electricity mix.
Back in 2019, Utah Clean Energy and others intervened in the IRP to ensure renewable energy and storage played a central role in PacifiCorp’s energy plan.
“The prices for clean energy resources have fallen so low that utilities around the country are consistently adopting large amounts of new renewable energy and storage resources. This announcement reflects the exciting reality that these energy resources are the best choice for our future.”
– Hunter Holman, Utah Clean Energy’s staff attorney who was front-and-center in the IRP docket.
From PacifiCorp’s News Release:
The details of the bids are confidential, but a summary of the 19 shortlisted projects that met PacifiCorp’s selection criteria include:
- 1,641 megawatts of wind capacity in Wyoming, representing continued growth in low-cost Wyoming wind
- 151 megawatts of wind capacity in Idaho, the company’s largest wind acquisition in the state since 2012
- 210 megawatts of solar (including 52.5 megawatts of installed battery capacity) in Oregon, representing the largest investment to date in Oregon’s solar market
- 1,243 megawatts of solar (including 682 megawatts of installed battery The capacity, plus one 200 megawatt standalone battery) in Utah
PacifiCorp serves six states, all sharing the same electricity mix. If approved, the renewable energy shortlisted will serve customers in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and California.
We would like to clarify that Utah Clean Energy is not a solar company. We are a nonprofit organization that advocates for solar and other clean energy technologies, but we do not install or sell solar in any way.