washington business
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KEVIN HARRIS Account Executive 253.393.2302 kevinh @ printnw . net
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A 2019 study of Pacific Northwest grid reliability found that thousands of megawatts of new firm , flexible generation ( in other words , natural gas-fired ) would be required to meet even modest carbon reduction goals . Yet there is a strong push to remove natural gas from our energy mix . Can we have a reliable , green energy grid in the Northwest without natural gas ?
Not today . Natural gas is a low capital cost , high variable cost resource , which is what you want in this situation . You ’ re not going to use it very often , so you don ’ t want much in fixed costs and then you ’ re willing to bear the variable costs in the years that you need it . We should be very reticent about giving up the capability of the existing system until we know what the replacement is going to be .
You have said the state is behind on investing in new generating capability and cross-state transmission to carry solar and wind energy to western Washington . You recently wrote : “ We need the kind of strong political focus on building supply to meet demand that is being put into issues like removing the lower Snake River dams .” What are some examples that would move our state forward ?
Some really tough decisions have to be made . The process for siting new transmission lines is very onerous . If climate change is a type of issue that is so incredibly important to us that we have to make really hard decisions and we have to make them quickly , then we ’ re going to have to create new political processes . It just will not work to build a whole bunch of solar and wind on the east side of the Cascade Mountains and not have new transmission to be able to move it to where the demand is .
You also recently wrote that our state has been encouraging electrification , committing to shutting dispatchable generation , and increasingly relying on aspiration mystery resources , with no clear plan or realistic timeline to address electrical resource adequacy . What ’ s all this mean for Washington and our legislators ?
One of the things that I have suggested is that we need a dashboard of some kind , that shows what the amount of , for example , renewable resource development that is necessary , the amount of transmission development that is necessary , on a year-by-year basis in order to be able to hit the 2030 goals . You can ’ t just set carbon emission reduction goals and walk away and then assume that the good things will happen .
20 association of washington business