Quote:
Originally Posted by chowhou
There are still plenty of coal fired plants in the Western Interconnection.
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There are, and in the past few years Powerex has bought power from Wyoming, Utah and Montana. But it's very little - a majority of Powerex's imports come from Washington State, which has virtually no coal or gas plants - like BC it's most hydroelectric power. The only coal plant is closing next year, but there are a number of gas plants that generate 12.5% of Washington's total power. The next source is California, and they also have around 50% renewable and 50% gas powered plants.
Even adding more renewable capacity to the system doesn't guarantee we wouldn't still import fossil fuel generated power, while Powerex is encouraged to keep revenue up by trading away our clean power at a premium and buying cheaper imports.
Adding wind power is an excellent idea because as we saw last year, climate change is altering snowpack and the timing of the melt, making hydro less reliable. Combined with the much cheaper battery storage now available, tapping other non carbon sources of power is crucial.
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