Vancouver — Washington’s 17 largest electric utilities, including Clark Public Utilities, have exceeded initial energy efficiency goals of the state’s voter-approved clean energy law and easily exceeded its renewables standard, according to a new report from the Northwest Energy Coalition.
Passed in 2006, I-937 calls for energy-efficiency improvements and mandates a gradual ramp-up of new renewable resources in utilities’ energy mix, up to 15 percent in 2020. The first I-937 check-in, for the 2010-2011 period, looks at energy-efficiency upgrades and utilities’ plans for how they’ll get 3 percent of their power from new renewables in the upcoming year. It found that Washington’s 17 largest electric utilities met or exceeded their own energy efficiency targets, achieving 231 average megawatts of energy efficiency in 2010-11.
Clark Public Utilities reported 22.5 average megawatts of energy efficiency and 4.3 percent of its power from renewable sources, primarily improved hydropower efficiency and wind. Statewide, utilities so far have primarily invested in wind power and upgrades of hydropower facilities, although some have secured power from biomass, solar, and landfill gas, the energy coalition said.
