Grant PUD outlines planning for future clean energy production

EPHRATA — Grant County PUD commissioners were updated by staff last week on development of an Integrated Resource Plan, required by state law to describe how the utility district intends to meet customer demands for electricity from 2027 to 2046 while complying with Washington’s clean-energy requirements at the lowest-possible electric rates.

The process will include seeking public comment on the IRP prior to its approval by commissioners and submittal to state utilities officials by a Sept. 1 deadline.

PUD analysts are now running computer models to examine cost and feasibility on a wide range of data — from continued power-purchase agreements to energy storage to potential new sources of electrical generation — said Rich Flanigan, the district’s vice president of energy supply and markets, during the commission’s March 10 workshop. 

PUD officials say customers’ electricity needs now exceed the generation capacity of the district’s two Columbia River dams, Priest Rapids and Wanapum, particularly during times of peak demand. To supplement its hydropower generation, the district has been looking at other sources of electricity. Currently, it has a trio of signed agreements for 460 megawatts of solar power and 260 megawatts of battery-stored energy that will be available in late 2027 and early 2028.

Long term, district analysts are continuing to study scenarios that include additional solar power, battery storage, geothermal power, “pumped-storage” hydropower, wind power, and various generation sources utilizing natural gas and small modular nuclear reactor technology.

The outside generation sources are more costly than electricity produced by the district’s two dams. Grant PUD commissioners have adopted a rate policy for “core customers” in residential, agriculture, and small commercial and general services classes to receive the district’s hydropower generation. Large power-consuming customers will pay for higher-cost electricity

Potential long-term solutions incorporating new resources include a study of small modular reactors, a geothermal study with Chelan and Douglas County PUDs and Energy Northwest, long-term energy storage using specialized large-scale batteries, and continued evaluation of more-proven technologies such as natural gas, wind, and solar power.

In developing its resource plan, the district has listed both known and potential future resources and locations. They include:

—    Solar power and four-hour battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Grant County and the states of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon;

—    100-hour BESS in Grant County;

—    A high-efficiency, low-emissions natural gas linear generator in Grant County;

—    Natural gas combustion turbine and combined combustion-steam turbines in Idaho;

—    Pumped storage hydropower in Washington;

—    Wind power in Idaho, Montana, and Oregon;

—    Small modular reactor in Grant County, with and without power storage.

Under state law, electric utilities in Washington must use their integrated resource plans to identify the “lowest reasonable cost mix” of conservation and efficiency, generation, distribution, and delivery system investments to provide customers with energy that is “clean, affordable, reliable, and equitably distributed.”

Also during last Tuesday’s workshop, commissioners heard a separate staff presentation regarding development of a districtwide software system to improve efficiency, customer service, and data sharing.

Early phases of the conversion have begun in the finance department, to be followed by the customer service, human resources, and asset management departments. Total project cost has yet to be determined and will be based on the amount of work eventually needed, commissioners were told by project manager John Mullen and Charles Meyer, PUD vice president of technology.