Has Oregon Prohibited Electricity Produced Using Coal from Serving Customer Loads?



In a word, No.

Governor Kate Brown did sign the The Clean Electricity and Coal Transition Plan (“the Plan”). While news reports heralded it as the first of its kind in the nation, those reports were wrong.

For example, Oregon Public Radio (OPB) ran a story with a narrative that reflected the environmental community’s pitch. OPB’s report noted that the Plan “... put an expiration date of 2025 on all coal-fired power coming into the state and. . . require[s] utilities to replace electricity from coal with power that is 90% cleaner.” Other examples include the following headlines: “Oregon Passes Historic Bill to Phase Out Coal and Double Down on Renewables (NRDC)”; “Oregon Set To
Become First Coal-Free State (Huffington Post”); “Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed one of the nation’s most aggressive pieces of pro-climate legislation into state law Friday (U.S. News and World Report)”; and “How Oregon plans to quit coal (CS Monitor).” PAC’s press release correctly stated its first key fact as requiring the removal of coal-fueled generation from Oregon rates by 2030.

What the Plan requires (with several exceptions) is the costs of generating electricity using coal be excluded from retail electric rates by January 1, 2030.

Portland General Electric (PGE) will be allowed to recoup the cost of electricity from Colstrip 3 & 4 in Montana even after January 1, 2030.

There are also several provisions allowing for the costs of certain market power purchases to be included in rates after January 1, 2030.

Since PGE's coal-fired electricity plant at Boardman (Oregon’s only such plant) will eliminate coal as a feedstock under a separate agreement reached in 2010, the Plan has no effect.

PacifiCorp (PAC) owns over two dozen coal-fired electricity generating plants.  Of those plants, approximately 15 will continue operation after January 1, 2030.  Current information indicates that PAC plans to retire those plants over the 2030-2040 timeframe.

What costs are able to be recovered in rates from Oregon retail electricity customers is a completely separate issue from whether or not electricity from coal plants flows to those same customers.  This issue will be addressed in my next post.

Image courtesy of Fredrick Green Homes Challenge Report.





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