Sustainability - - A Focus On Carbon

A bill (SB1547) signed into law in March '16 does not contain language banning coal-fired electricity from delivery to Oregon's retail customers.  Even so, the Oregon Global Warming Commission’s 2017 Biennial Report to the Oregon legislature (Report) erroneously reports the existence of such a ban after 2030.   It also erroneously reports that both Portland General Electric (PGE) and PacifiCorp (PAC) are prohibited from allocating to Oregon retail customers any cost or benefit from coal-fired plants.  Figures 7-9 in the Report illustrate past and future CO2 emissions by these two utilities (Fig. 7 for PAC and Fig. 8 for PGE) and the statewide CO2 emission levels (Fig. 9) assume that Oregon takes credit for lowered CO2 emissions, even though SB1547 did not address coal plant operation in any way.  Furthermore, the statute in question expressly permits PGE to continue to include costs of its portion of Coalstrip in Oregon retail rates after 2030.  The law als...

Contrary to what the 2017 Update states, SB1547 does not require that coal plants be phased out by 2035.   It also does not require any phasing out of coal-fired electricity from helping to serve our demand for electricity.   While it does increase the Renewable Performance Standards (RPS) in the out years, reaching 50% by 2050, this applies only to two utilities: PGE and PacifiCorp.   Even then, the requirement may be met through the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from across the United States.   As a result, the electricity entering homes and businesses in Portland will continue to include carbon-based generation, including coal.   There is a second reason why carbon-based fuels, including coal, will continue to be delivered to Portland’s homes and businesses since coal will remain a significant component of the West Coast power system of which PGE and PacifiCorp are a part. If you are interested in this issue, here are seve...