SPOKANE — Northwest utilities are on a quest for renewable energy. Wind turbines are sprouting around the region. Dams are being upgraded. And utilities are buying renewable energy credits.
The Spokesman Review reports that on Jan. 1, the 17 largest electricity providers in Washington are required to meet the first goal of sweeping renewable-energy rules approved by voters in 2006. As of next year, 3 percent of the energy those companies supply their customers must be from renewable sources built after March 1, 1999.
The standard increases to 9 percent in 2016 and 15 percent in 2020.
All 17 utilities are on track to comply, said Howard Schwartz, senior energy policy analyst with the state Department of Commerce.
Supporters of the new law believe it will lead to less expensive energy and a healthier environment. Others fear higher prices and wasted money invested in energy the utilities may not need.
“This mandate has clearly ramped up development of wind way more aggressively than it ever would have without it,” said Jim Litchfield, an energy consultant who appreciates benefits of wind as a renewable power source but has concerns about the law.
From 2005 to 2009 wind generation in the state increased more than 600 percent. In 2009, it accounted for 3.5 percent of all the electricity generated in Washington. But state statistics also show that much of that wind power is sold out of state.
Despite the growth of wind power, Avista plans to meet its new energy requirements through upgrades at existing dams.
Inland Power and Light will meet its first goal by buying renewable energy credits from another power company. The two other largest providers in the Spokane area, Vera Water & Power and Modern Electric Water Co., have fewer than 25,000 customers and are not required to follow the rules.
Bob Lafferty, Avista’s director of power supply, said the company is seeking a long-term contract with an electricity producer to supply an additional 35 average megawatts of renewable energy to help meet the 9 percent goal in 2016. The company is seeking a contract now, although it could wait, because of tax incentives for wind turbines and a downturn in construction costs.
While Avista hasn’t taken a position on the law approved by voters, Inland Power and Light Co. has strongly opposed the rules since they made the ballot in 2006.
Kris Mikkelsen, Inland’s CEO, wonders why the cooperative has to participate when more than 80 percent of its energy already is renewable.
The company, which serves 38,000 customers, gets electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration, mostly from dams. About 2 percent of its supply is from wind, but some of that may not count toward Inland’s goal because not all of BPA’s wind power is generated within boundaries in Washington’s law, Mikkelsen said.
“You have to meet the renewable standard whether you need power or not,” she said. “We don’t need any power.”
Mikkelsen said Inland will pay $200,000 to buy renewable energy credits from a West Side power company. For now, the company can afford the credits, but Mikkelsen expects renewable-energy certificates to get more expensive over time.
Supporters of the law argue that supply of wind-generated power is growing at a pace that should dampen cost increases. They also say possible rule changes in California that may require more of that state’s renewable energy to be generated in-state also could take pressure off demand in the Northwest. Backers also note that the law includes a cap so a utility doesn’t have to pay more than 4 percent of its revenue to meet the goal, or 1 percent if its energy demand is flat or falling.
Litchfield, the first director of power planning for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, has many concerns about the law but said one benefit of it was to spur the growth of wind energy and diversifying the region’s power sources.
Still, he wonders if the law and others like it in other states are forcing the construction of more wind turbines than are needed.
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