100% Clean Electricity: How Are Utilities Doing?
Posted on February 7, 2024 by Jennifer Hill-Hart and
Tags, Energy, General Interest
In 2021, Oregon passed the 100% clean electricity law (HB 2021). This law requires Portland General Electric (PGE) and Pacific Power to reduce their carbon emissions by 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2040. We’ve now had 2.5 years since it passed—how are our utilities doing?
Meeting 100% Clean Electricity
HB 2021 took effect on 1/1/2022 and we have emissions reporting data from that year. The baseline was established as the average emissions from 2010, 2011, and 2012. PGE’s emissions have fallen by 27% from the baseline and Pacific Power has fallen by 13%. This means that in the 8 years between 2022 and 2030, Pacific Power needs to reduce its carbon emissions by two-thirds. PGE must reduce its carbon emissions by half.
Image: PacifiCorp & PGE’s Emissions
Regulators at the Public Utility Commission have been reviewing the Clean Energy Plans filed by the utilities. These plans lay out how each utility will comply with HB 2021. While PGE’s plan was partially accepted by the Commission, Pacific Power’s progress has been significantly stalled.
PGE: Headed in the Right Direction
In 2022, PGE’s emissions had declined by 27% from the baseline due to actions such as closing the Boardman coal plant combined with investments in clean energy and energy efficiency. In addition, since 2022, PGE has taken additional actions such as developing the Clearwater Wind Farm in Montana. It has contracted from the region’s hydro facilities to help meet winter and summer peaks. And it has increased targets for energy efficiency investment to help customers reduce their power needs.
CUB believes that PGE has demonstrated that it is making significant progress toward meeting the HB 2021 requirements. But at the same time, we recognize that there are questions about the plan that have not been fully answered.
Markets: Utilities buy and sell power with each other to balance supply and demand. The Western US lags behind the rest of the country in developing regional organized electric markets. The result of this is that most power that is purchased or sold in the West is considered unspecified (the actual source of the power is not identified) and is therefore assumed to have the average emissions of the grid. But there is a lot of work occurring to expand regional markets in the West which would allow tracking of energy from the source. This will enable utilities in Oregon, Washington, and California, which have emission regulations, to purchase non-emitting power that comes from solar or wind resources in regional markets. This will reduce PGE’s emissions. But when organized markets will begin tracking non-emitting energy is unclear. And without conducting an IRP for the entire region, how much non-emitting energy will be available is uncertain.
Methane Gas Plants: PGE owns several gas plants that use methane to generate electricity. Under 2030 limits, PGE will only use these plants to serve load on days when demand is high (summer and winter peak) to minimize emissions. Regulators would like PGE to improve its hourly modeling to identify more closely how much these gas plants are running.
Colstrip Coal Plant: PGE is one of the utilities that owns a share of the Colstrip coal plant in Montana. Closing Colstrip will reduce PGE’s emissions. However, because Colstrip is owned by several utilities and PGE owns a minority share, PGE does not control the decision over when the plant closes. So it is unclear when Colstrip will be removed from PGE’s generation resources, but under Oregon law, the plant will not be allowed to serve customers after 2030.
PGE’s Clean Energy Plan Partially Accepted
Regulators concluded that PGE’s Clean Energy Plan will result in significant additional progress towards Oregon emission reduction targets. However, there are still open questions and a need for more refined modeling. The Public Utility Commission was unable to conclude that the plan would achieve the 2030 emission reduction targets. In January, the Commission accepted PGE’s short-term plan but asked for revisions to its long-term planning.
Pacific Power: Struggling to Create a Plan
Evaluating Pacific Power’s plan to meet the HB 2021 requirements is more difficult. That’s because Pacific Power does not actually have a plan that meets the requirements.
Canceled Renewables: After a jury found Pacific Power liable for millions of dollars in wildfire liability damages, the utility has had tighter finances. Pacific Power canceled its plans to purchase an additional 1.5 gigawatts of renewables. Without these resources, the plan falls short of meeting Oregon’s emissions requirements.
Balancing Other States’ Interests: Pacific Power serves six states who share its resources, including Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming which are less concerned with emissions than Oregon. CUB is concerned that Pacific Power is overstating future emissions reductions based on the utility’s plan to serve all six states. CUB reviewed Pacific Power’s six-state plans all the way back to 2008. We found that they always overstate future emissions reductions. As a result, we can’t reliably build off the multi-state plan and assume that it will meet Oregon’s HB 2021 requirements.
Replacing Coal with Gas, Not Renewables: In 2016, Oregon passed the Coal to Clean law which banned coal power from serving Oregon customers by 2030. Oregon negotiated with other states for an agreement that would have Oregon exit the coal plants over the decade. When HB 2021 passed, Pacific Power represented that as Oregon exited the coal plants, they would be replaced with renewable energy. This would have enabled Pacific Power to comply with emissions targets. However, Pacific Power developed new plans to convert the coal plants to gas (methane). Oregon does not have an agreement with other states that allows us to exit gas plants and replace them with renewables.
Pacific Power’s Clean Energy Plan Fully Rejected
After reviewing the utility’s plan, regulators are recommending stalling the process while Pacific Power makes major changes. Pacific Power plans to update its plans in March. Regulators have asked for better modeling, and for the utility to reconsider replacing coal with gas, and more. CUB is waiting to see if the updated plan provides a clear path to comply with HB 2021.
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02/07/24 | 4 Comments | 100% Clean Electricity: How Are Utilities Doing?