Rocky Mountain Power filed a $3.5 billion IRP to power the future
Rocky Mountain Power filed a $3.5 billion Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to be used as road map by the company for next 20 year to provide electricity to its customers by adding more solar and wind and making existing wind turbines more efficient.
The 2017 IRP includes:
- Upgrading more than 900 megawatts of existing wind plants with larger blades and newer technology 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 500-kilovolt transmission line between Medicine Bow, Wyoming, and the Jim Bridger power plant in the southwestern part of the state. The 140-mile line would enable additional wind generation, improve efficiency and relieve transmission congestion.
- 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 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.
- Continuing a cost-conscious transition that adds more energy diversity, the plan incorporates the company’s environmental compliance obligations for its coal plants.
Rocky Mountain Power President and CEO, Cindy A. Crane said that this plan provides more diversity in the energy they use, which helps them keep electricity prices low for customers and improves the economies of their states. 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.
Image Source: Rocky Mountain Power