Puget Sound Energy plans new fracked gas for power plants and buildings

Tomorrow the Utilities and Transportation Commission will hold a public hearing on Puget Sound Energy’s (PSE) draft long-range plan that calls for building new fracked gas plants and will likely put the utility out of compliance with Washington state’s clean electricity law. 

Under the Clean Electricity Transformation Act (CETA), all of Washington state’s utilities are required to be coal-free by 2025 and get 80% of their electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. Despite that, PSE’s draft plan:

• Adds 237 megawatts of fracked gas by 2026, in addition to the nearly 2,000 megawatts it already owns, most of which stands idle for much of the year.

• Fails to account for the fact that Colstrip Units 3 and 4 in Eastern Montana - PSE’s only remaining coal facilities not scheduled for retirement - cost more to operate right now than cleaner sources of energy, according to state regulatory records. The plant, co-owned with 4 other utilities, is responsible for nearly 11 million tons of carbon pollution per year, the equivalent of two million cars on the road, and needs tens of millions in repairs. According to testimony at the Montana state legislature, Unit 4 suffered an unexpected outage last week - its third in 10 years. 

• Underestimates the opportunities for energy efficiency investments that lower their customers’ monthly energy bills, as well as demand response technologies that can help balance supply and demand of electricity, avoiding the need to build new generating resources. 

• Overestimates the costs of building wind, solar and battery storage, all of which continue to become more affordable with each passing year.

• Calls for the continued growth of PSE’s gas utility, despite climate studies at the state, national and international levels showing that climate goals cannot be reached without moving our homes, schools and businesses to clean electricity.

A recent assessment from energy consultant Grid Strategies shows that even with upcoming closures of coal plants, PSE can provide reliable electricity without investing in new fracked gas plants. But the study notes that PSE needs to move more quickly to bring clean energy online in the next 5 years compared to this draft plan.

City and county governments across the PSE service territory have climate plans that call for steep reductions in gas, more renewable energy and fossil fuel-free buildings. PSE’s draft plan would put these goals out of reach by expanding these cities’ dependence on fossil fuels.

PSE is majority owned by Canadian pension funds that are heavily invested in the extraction and transport of fracked gas, and could see a financial windfall if PSE builds more outlets for burning gas. PSE is currently collaborating with the Canadian tar sands industry to promote the increased use of gas to the public through Partnership For Energy Progress, a multimillion dollar public relations campaign.

If approved by the Washington state Utilities and Transportation Commission, this plan will form the basis for the legally binding Clean Energy Implementation Plan, which guides the utility’s investments in the coming years under the terms of the 100% clean law.

As of 2019, PSE got 35% of its electricity from coal and 31% from fracked gas.

The draft plan has a public hearing on Friday, Feb. 26 at 10:30 a.m. (To attend, call (253) 372-2181 - conference ID 798 835 356. Or participate via Microsoft Teams by clicking here.)

Doug Howell, Senior Campaign Representative, issued the following statement:

“The majority of PSE’s customers demand a clean energy future, but this plan calls for digging the hole even deeper by saddling the next generation with fossil fuel investments. We need state regulators to ensure that Washingtonians get the clean energy future they’ve been demanding for years.”

Ruth Sawyer, Clean Energy organizer for the Sierra Club issued the following statement:

“Summers of dangerous wildfires and extreme weather have made it clear: we need to act urgently to move off fossil fuels and towards clean energy. It’s unfortunate that Washington state’s largest utility seems stuck in the past at a time when the public is demanding a cleaner, safer energy system that works for everyone.”