![]() ![]() Modified four times and the subject of wonky debates on regulatory purview and where it belongs, SB115 revamps much of how the utility company does business. Gary Herbert signed a massive bill involving Rocky Mountain Power on Wednesday, signaling his intent to allow a five-year pilot project to prove its merits or unravel in failure. While not forcing the change, the federal Inflation Reduction Act has offered millions of dollars in tax incentives to convert to clean energy.SALT LAKE CITY - Utah Gov. ![]() Recent studies have shown that renewable energy can be generated at a lower cost than fossil fuels.Īs mentioned above, the transition will also keep Rocky Mountain Power in line with the Environmental Protection Agency’s ozone rules. The government requires producers to invest in the cheapest and safest forms of energy. Is the government forcing RMP to transition to renewables? It also coincides with major federal investments in new electrical generation and infrastructure. Friday’s news was contained in the company’s 2023 IRP. PacifiCorp files an Integrated Resource Plan with state regulators every two years, laying out its anticipated energy needs and planned investments in new electrical generation and transmission for the next 20 years. The Gardner report also emphasized the need to diversify the two counties’ economies. The closures will make coal exports more essential to mining operations. The nuclear plants will offset some of the losses, but not all of them. The report forecasts shrinking jobs and wages under the planned closure, but an accelerated closure schedule made those economic hits harder - with jobs in the two counties dipping from 16,000 in 2020 to just under 12,000 in 2035, and total wages dipping by roughly 10% before rebounding. About half of those jobs were expected to disappear by 2060, in part due to the anticipated transition of the two power plants, but also because of general global trends away from coal. How will the local economy be impacted?Īs of 2020, there were about 1,150 jobs in the mining industry in Carbon and Emery counties, according to a report last year from the Kem Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah. The design of those nuclear power-based utility plants will be similar to a plant Rocky Mountain is currently seeking permits to build in Wyoming. Additionally, the company is seeking to build two molten salt nuclear power plants at the same locations, in order to take advantage of the transmission lines already in place. ![]() In place of the coal plants, PacifiCorp - Rocky Mountain’s Oregon-based parent company - is making a major push toward wind and solar power. IPP is planning to convert to burning a combination of natural gas and hydrogen, and Bonanza is expected to close by the end of the decade under a court settlement made years ago. The two other coal plants in the state - the Intermountain Power Plant near Delta and Bonanza Power Plant near Vernal - are also expected to stop burning coal. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Coal transportation and rail operations along US-6 in Helper on Tuesday, Dec. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |