Eastern Washington Faces Potential Power Shortages Ahead

One of the things that I've always found most attractive about Washington state, and especially Eastern Washington where I live, is the abundance and cheap cost of energy, specifically electricity. 

Because of multiple hydroelectric projects, electricity is not an issue in Eastern Washington. 

But someday that could change. 

A new study released by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission and the Washington Department of Commerce Says that we here in the Northwest might be in trouble in the coming years. 

According to seattletimes.com,
‘A new report commissioned by the region’s largest utilities has raised concerns. Starting next year, the Northwest could face a power shortage that would challenge the reliability of the grid during extreme conditions, according to the report.
The report analyzed the region’s energy plans against potential weather and hydropower conditions across Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and parts of Utah and Wyoming. It found the highest chance of a rolling blackout would come during a dry hydropower year, combined with a dayslong cold snap.’ 

Even a year ago, it would be easy to think that something like this would be highly unlikely. But there is potential within the next 5 years for something like this occurring. Washington state has eliminated the use of coal and has not created any new infrastructure to fill the gap.  

What new energy capacity is out there? 

There's lots of wind and solar, but there's no battery storage. Also, as a state, we're looking at the possibility of adding nuclear energy to our energy portfolio again. Right now, the Columbia Generating Station is the only operating nuclear reactor generating electricity in the Northwest. It's located at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. 

In the Wenatchee Valley, we have the beginning stages of the Helion fusion reactor “Orion” Project in Malaga. With the hope of supplying electricity to Microsoft in 2028. 

Those of us who live in Chelan and Douglas counties are very lucky that the price of our electricity is so low. That is not necessarily the case in Western Washington. 

With the rapid edition of cloud server farms and AI Servers coming to the northwest electricity will someday be at a premium even in Chelan and Douglas counties. 

Possibly, way sooner than we expected.

PNW could face energy shortage during extreme conditions, report says | The Seattle Times
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