Another theme that emerged throughout the day was the urgent need for permitting reform to speed up development of new power resources as well as transmission infrastructure.
Regional utilities have roughly 30,000 megawatts of new generation planned in the pipeline over the next decade, according to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. But bringing those resources online is a slow process.“ Our permitting process is too slow and too cumbersome,” Gov. Ferguson said. In his opening remarks, Ferguson shared a second story that foreshadowed the afternoon when the summit agenda shifted from panel discussions to discussion groups. Ferguson recalled that when he was a University of Washington student, he met then-Washington Gov. Booth Gardner and asked the governor to sign a copy of a book. In addition to his signature, Gardner added a three-word message that has stayed with Ferguson ever since –“ Dream Big Dreams!”
And that’ s exactly how the summit wrapped up, with attendees brainstorming ideas for
Washington’ s energy future. Key ideas included:
• Supporting advanced nuclear power like SMRs
• Expanding carbon capture
• Longer-duration battery storage systems
• Streamlining permitting
• A clear strategy on use of Climate Commitment Act funds
• And more
A full report summarizing the ideas will be produced later this year, but one of the most striking ideas came from Angel Romero, a sophomore engineering student at WSU Tri-Cities who participated in the event.“ The bold idea is to start something,” he said. AWB President Kris Johnson agreed.“ Time is of the essence,” Johnson said.“ We need to think big!”
“ The bold idea is to start something.”
— Angel Romero, a sophomore engineering student at WSU Tri-Cities who participated in the Energy Solutions Summit