Rocky Mountain Power's 20-year, $3.5B plan strong on wind, solar

By John Rogers

Rocky Mountain Power has unveiled a 20-year, $3.5 billion plan to provide electricity to its customers that includes adding more solar and wind and making existing wind turbines more efficient. The plan, unveiled last week, also incorporates building a segment of the Gateway West transmission line to facilitate the wind expansion.

The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) was filed with utility regulators and is used as a road map to help the company provide reliable electric service to customers at the lowest cost, the utility said in a release.

The Gateway West project was jointly proposed by Rocky Mountain Power and Idaho Power and involves building and operating approximately 1,000 miles of new high-voltage transmission lines between the Windstar substation near Glenrock, Wyoming, and the Hemingway substation near Melba, Idaho. The transmission line would make wind-generated power available to customers of the two power companies.

The plan will be a boon to Wyoming’s energy industry. The investment includes $1 billion in system-wide upgrades to its wind turbines throughout the company’s service area, with $700 million alone targeted for Wyoming. Rocky Mountain Power’s Wyoming wind turbines will be upgraded with larger blades, better control systems and other newer technology. The upgrades should be completed by 2020, the company said.

Rocky Mountain sees its plan as a “kick start” to Wyoming’s Economically Needed Diversification Options for Wyoming (ENDOW) program advocated by Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, said Rocky Mountain company president and CEO Cindy Crane. “These investments will help diversify the state’s economy, create jobs and add to the tax base,” she said.

Rocky Mountain Power, a division of PacificCorp, anticipates its Wyoming IRP projects will create between 1,000 and 1,400 construction jobs, add about $80 million in tax revenue through construction and an additional $11 million of annual tax revenue starting in 2021, and provide annual wind production tax benefits of $3 million beginning in year four of operation.

Rocky Mountain Power’s 2017 IRP includes the following:

• Upgrading more than 900 megawatts of existing wind plants to generate 20 percent more energy in a wider range of wind conditions and capture federal production tax credit value for customers.

• Beginning construction on a segment of the Gateway West transmission line.

• Facilitating construction of up to 1,100 megawatts of new wind projects, primarily in Wyoming, by the end of 2020, capturing federal production tax credit value for customers.

• Adding up to another 859 megawatts of new wind — 85 megawatts in Wyoming and 774 megawatts in Idaho — between 2028 and 2036.

• Building up to 1,040 megawatts of new solar generating capacity between 2028 and 2036. Approximately 77 percent of the solar is assumed to be built in Utah and 23 percent to be built in states served by Pacific Power, parent company of Rocky Mountain.

• Continuing a cost-conscious transition that adds more energy diversity, the plan incorporates the company’s environmental compliance obligations for its coal plants.

“This plan provides more diversity in the energy we use, which helps us keep electricity prices low for customers and improves the economies of our states,” said Crane. “The proposal is also a major investment that will produce more jobs, provide a stronger tax base and build transmission lines that will deliver reliable energy more efficiently for years to come.”

By moving to complete the wind upgrades and new wind developments by 2020, the company will be able to use federal production tax credits, which will help cover the costs of the investments and provide a net savings for customers over the life of the projects.

Energy efficiency continues to play a key role in the Rocky Mountain Power’s long-term plans. The 2017 IRP anticipates energy efficiency will meet 88 percent of the energy growth needs during the next 10 years — up from 86 percent from the 2015 forecast.

A full IRP is developed every two years and an update is filed during off years. The IRP is based on current information and subject to change, the company said. The 2017 IRP can be found at rockymountainpower.net/irp.

During the next two decades, Rocky Mountain Power’s parent company, PacifiCorp, anticipates the retirement of 3,650 megawatts of existing coal power generating capacity, including a Wyoming unit at Naughton set to idle by the end of 2018.

The decision to retire, however, comes as the utility evaluates emerging technologies that could extend the life of the coal-fired power unit if it can be proven to be cost-effective for ratepayers.

Other long-range retirements of coal-fired electrical generation include two units at the Huntington Power Plant in Emery County, which could be closed by the end of 2036, though the plan stresses the commitments for retirement are not firm.