02/20/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 02/20/2024 21:51
At the February meeting in Coeur d'Alene Idaho, staff presented the Council with an update on generating resources built since the 2021 Power Plan (see presentation and video).
The 2021 Plan Resource Strategy called for the region to build at least 3,500 megawatts of renewable resources by 2027, though identified that jurisdictions pursuing ambitious decarbonization or electrification may need to build more. The region is already well on its way to achieving that goal, having built around 3,200 megawatts of new renewables since the plan.
The Council also tracks resources built in the broader West to provide insight on the plan's assumptions around west-wide build outs and how those inform market prices. WECC-wide, approximately 42,000 megawatts of new renewables have been built, which is notably less than the 115 Gigawatts the plan assumed would be built by 2024. This slower pace of renewable builds mitigates some of the region's reserve risk created by low, volatile market prices.
Both the in-region and WECC-wide resource builds are being tracked as a part of the Council's mid-term assessment of the power plan. For more about progress against the plan, and greater context for that progress, see the 2021 Northwest Power Plan Mid-Term Assessment.
Beyond the build numbers and how they're stacking up against the plan, staff also reported on resource trends, including:
Looking forward, continued accelerated renewable growth is expected, especially of solar and battery storage.