Latest Power Plan highlights role of renewables, energy efficiency in region’s future

The Northwest Power and Conservation Councils 2021 Northwest Power Plan intends to address the challenges of a dynamic energy landscape with an emphasis on eco-friendly energy and energy performance.
The six-year strategy, which was embraced in February, comes amid considerable transformation, from clean energy policies and states decarbonization objectives to the dramatic drop in cost of wind and solar energy and the retirement of several coal-fired power plants throughout the West by 2028, according to the council.
The plan addresses these changes by consisting of substantially more renewable resource generation than any previous strategy. It requires establishing at least 3,500 megawatts of brand-new sustainable resources in the Northwest to provide energy while balancing out carbon emissions from existing fossil fuel-based generation.
While the cost of some eco-friendly energy sources has decreased, the plan explains that cost-effective energy performance will stay a top priority for the area as its second biggest energy resource.
The plan suggests getting 750 to 1,000 typical megawatts in energy performance to help preserve a sufficient system and satisfy the needs of future electrification (from electrical lorries, for example).
” Energy efficiency is a essential and extremely essential way to attend to resource adequacy, and its contribution to capability makes it a crucial resource during periods of unpredictability,” according to the plan, including that efficiency will “play a crucial role in fulfilling the regions future demand for electricity.”
Energy cost savings and generation accomplished by Energy Trust and its clients contribute to the councils targets, and Energy Trust uses targets and other details from the plan to develop its yearly goals in coordination with partner energies.
The council was developed by Congress through the Northwest Power Act of 1980. Find out more about it and read the plan here.