Washington residents might need proposed facility if the state is unable to meet future energy demands, which the company behind the project warns is growing more likely
TJ Martinell
The Center Square Washington
A proposed battery energy storage system near Goldendale under consideration by the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council would, if ultimately approved by Gov. Jay Inslee, be able to provide 200,000 homes with electricity for up to four hours.
It’s a facility that Washington residents might need if the state is unable to meet future energy demands, which the company behind the project warns is growing more likely.
Tenaska is an independent power company based out of the Midwest and behind the proposed $250 million BESS, which would store excess electricity generated by the grid for later use. In an Aug. 13 presentation to EFSEC, company officials cautioned that “the region is increasingly at risk for rolling blackouts and brownouts,” which it blames in part to “aging transmission infrastructure that cannot meet current or projected demand.”
However, the presentation also noted that “data centers in the PNW, which are notorious for high energy use, are expected to more than double their electricity use in the coming years.”
Another contributor is the state’s transportation electrification efforts, with a ban on new fossil fuel vehicles taking effect in 2030. Currently, there are roughly 90,200 battery electric vehicles registered in Washington. Last year, light-duty electric vehicles consumed about 309,000 megawatt hours of electricity.
The dilemma facing Washington is twofold. The first is that its energy grid will require an additional 5,300-gigawatt hours by 2030 and 13,500 GWh by 2045 to meet demand, according to Tenaska’s presentation; one gigawatt is enough electricity to power 750,000 homes.
By 2050, electrical load growth is anticipated to increase by 92% compared to 2020 demand.
The second dilemma is that the new electricity must be from sources that conform to the state’s Clean Energy Transformation Act, which stipulates that utilities cannot use coal-based electricity starting next year, and by 2030 they can only use carbon neutral sources. By 2045, the energy will need to be from 100% renewable or “non-emitting” sources.
While Tenaska aims to have the BESS built in one year and operational by 2026, EFSEC has struggled to get final approval for a project that would generate clean energy needed to meet future demand. The Horse Heaven Energy Center was scheduled to begin construction in 2021 but has faced numerous delays, the latest of which came in May when Inslee sent the project back to EFSEC to increase its size and scope.
According to Inslee’s letter to the council, the original project would have generated 1,150 megawatts of electricity, 5% of the total needed to meet 2035 demand. Inslee wrote that 20 projects of similar energy generation will need to be built by 2035 if the state is to meet demand.
An E3 study released in 2019, the same year the law was enacted, warned that the Pacific Northwest region faced a near-term capacity shortage of up to 7,000 MW by 2025 and up to 10,000 MW by 2030.
“Planned resource additions do not fill this gap,” the study noted, adding that one of the causes of the energy gap was “renewable and storage additions with diminishing capacity benefit.”
A Pacific Northwest resource adequacy study released by E3 in March 2019 concluded that “it is possible to maintain resource adequacy for a deeply decarbonized Northwest electricity grid, as long as sufficient firm capacity is available during periods of low wind, solar, and hydro production” and that “natural gas generation is the most economic source of firm capacity today.”
This report was first published by The Center Square Washington.
Also read:
- Washington begins to assess damage from record flooding
State and local officials are assessing widespread damage after record flooding across western Washington, with thousands still under evacuation orders and more rain in the forecast. - Youth Efforts Against Hunger delivers 10,500 pounds of high-quality protein to Clark County Food Bank
Youth Efforts Against Hunger delivered 10,500 pounds of high-quality protein to the Clark County Food Bank, turning youth projects at the Clark County Fair into thousands of meals for local families. - Letter: ‘If we want workable immigration reform, we must first restore basic human dignity to the debate’
Vancouver resident John Ford argues that restoring human dignity to public discourse is essential before meaningful immigration reform can occur. - Santa’s Posse delivers Christmas joy once again
Hundreds of volunteers joined Santa’s Posse to deliver toys and food to 1,500 families across Clark County, continuing a long-running holiday tradition rooted in community service. - Opinion: Is the cheap fast-food burger a thing of the past?
Mark Harmsworth argues that rising minimum wages and B&O tax increases are driving higher food prices and squeezing low-income consumers and small businesses across Washington state. - Opinion: Blood on the highways fails to move Ferguson and Kotek
Lars Larson criticizes Washington and Oregon governors over licensing policies he says are linked to deadly truck crashes and ongoing highway safety risks. - Letter: ‘When we curtail one group’s rights we leave open the door to losing our rights too’
Camas resident Anthony Teso argues that constitutional protections apply to immigrants and warns that limiting one group’s rights risks undermining everyone’s civil liberties.
The Electric Power (EP) grid must be completely rebuilt for projected consumer and business electricity demand by 2050. Renewable energy resources (solar, etc.) can meet all of our electricity demands however, the grid can’t transport the energy produced 1000 miles to the SE of Washington in Arizona and New Mexico where massive solar farms are located. There is sufficient EP production and battery storage solutions but we don’t have the EP grid infrastructure needed to transport that power.
One problem is that the state power elite decreed hydropower NOT to be considered a renewal energy source. We should use fossil fuels and nuclear power as well as hydropower.