The Utah Public Service Commission on March 2 "acknowledged" PacifiCorp's integrated resource plan, or IRP, which calls for adding 2,000 MW of new wind and repowering 905 MW of existing wind by 2021. The acknowledgment of the IRP gives PacifiCorp increased assurance that it will be able to recover the costs of the investments it makes in implementing the plan.
The plan, which runs through 2036 and is intended to supply PacifiCorp customers in the six western states in which the company does business, includes 2,077 MW of energy-efficiency resources, 1,566 MW of market purchases, 1,040 MW of utility-scale solar, 1,313 MW of natural gas-fired generation and 365 MW of new direct load control capacity.
The IRP also calls for retiring 3,100 MW of coal- and natural gas-fired capacity.
The plan also envisions construction of a 140-mile extension of the 500-kV Gateway West transmission line in Wyoming to access the new wind resources and relieve congestion for existing capacity.
Utah regulators also commented on PacifiCorp's broader Energy Vision 2020 plan, which encompasses the new and repowered wind projects plus the Gateway West and other transmission lines, and add up to a $3.5 billion investment, according to the company.
The Energy Vision plan, introduced after the IRP had been filed, does not fully comply with the guidelines the commission laid out for its review of the resource plan. "Accordingly, we view Energy Vision 2020, including its effects on other aspects of the plan, to be less credible for IRP purposes than the remaining IRP components," the PSC said. "We affirm least-cost, least-risk planning is not a quaint concept of the past; it remains the fundamental objective of the IRP process."
In a move related to the IRP, PacifiCorp last month asked Wyoming regulators to approve four wind projects in Wyoming totaling about 1,311 MW, plus the Gateway West extension and other power lines. The wind projects and power lines are expected to cost about $2.3 billion.
PacifiCorp is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and does business in Utah under the name Rocky Mountain Power. It also serves electric customers in California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. (Utah PSC Docket No. 17-035-16)
Ethan Howland is a contributing reporter for S&P Global Platts which, like S&P Global Market Intelligence, is owned by S&P Global Inc.
